The New God, and the Dark Goddess
by ArielleZara
Summary: Born from the full moon's light hitting a cresting wave, Ara and Scorpius are brother and sister. Ara is dark, very powerful, has a temper, and is Goddess of Destruction. Scorpius is funny, a prankster, and a new god. Together, they are unstoppable.
1. Prologue

Prologue

*Arielle Zara Phoenix POV*

I looked around the camp, feeling uneasy. I knew something big was going to happen, and soon. I stood, looking out of the window of the big house. I was a goddess. So what was I doing here? I had my own cabin, but I didn't have any kids in it, so why did I feel the need to be here?

"Lady Ara, we have a new camper." Chiron said, walking up behind me.

"So? You get new campers everyday." I answered, bored. I rubbed at a smudge on my full set of black battle-armor. It was slim, fitting my curvy body perfectly. I almost always wore it.

"Yes, but this one is different. During sword practice today, he set one of the dummies on fire."

I sighed. "So? Was it Greek fire?"

"No. It was...your kind of fire." he said sheepishly.

I whirled, staring at him carefully. "He can control fire?" I was the only goddess who could control all the elements. Water, air, earth, fire, even lightning. Zeus didn't really like it, but what can one say to the Goddess of Destruction? Yep, that's me. I was born by the full moon's light hitting a cresting wave at the perfect moment, or so my adopted father, Poseidon, says.

"Yes, and I believe he can control the other elements too. He's playing capture the flag now, I was hoping you would come meet him as soon as it's over?" he asked, as I turned to look out the window again.

"Okay. Call for me when it's over." He nodded, and left. I heard someone else come up behind me.

"Well...what a...I'm not going to call it pleasant...but what a surprise!" Dionysus mocked.

"Don't mess with me today, Diny. I won't hesitate in blowing you up."

"Are you here to see that one weird kid that set the dummy on fire? I was thinking about sueing him for the fun of it."

"Yes I am here to see him, and no you won't sue him."

Suddenly I heard Chiron's voice in my head. "Come quickly! Percy and the new kid are hurt! Something attacked them, I need help!"

I cussed. "Another damn monster I'm sure of it." I said out loud. I transported myself to the forest, to the place where Chiron was showing me through mental images. The last thing I saw was a pouting Dionysus.

I appeared in the creek, not 10 feet away from a badly injured Percy Jackson. I ran to him, keeping an eye out for the monster. Then I saw it. It was an enormous hellhound. The new kid was laying down, trying to stave it off with his sword. I saw he was just as injured as Percy. I healed Percy quickly, then ran up to the hellhound. I stood over the new kid's broken body and held up my hands. An invisible current seemed to rush in the air from my body, and the hellhound fell over, dead. I had imploded his brain. Being the Goddess of Destruction, I could just do random stuff like that.

I turned to the new kid, and caught his name from some memories. Scorpius. I studied the gashes in his chest carefully. I was barely aware of the awed whispers coming from the assembled campers behind me. He had jet black hair, and from what I could tell, blood red eyes. His tanned skin was tainted with blood. He was wearing a black Guns N Roses t-shirt under his armor, and it was ripped to shreds. But what really shocked me was, he seemed really familiar.

*Scorpius POV*

I felt blood under my armor, where the hellhound had got me good. I heard a thud, which I figured was the hellhound killing someone else or being killed. I opened my eyes, and saw the face of the most devastatingly beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had jet black hair like mine, that was in a long braid that went to the small of her back. It seemed to have bright red streaks in it. Her emerald green eyes searched my wounds. They were very mesmerizing, with gold and black flecks. She was very pale, with a small face and features. Her body was slim, yet curvy and perfect. Her delicate porcelain hands were encased in... was that water? She could control water too? She pressed her hands to my chest, and my wounds healed instantly. Wow, I couldn't do that. I sat up carefully.

"You can control it too?" I asked instantly.

"Yes, I can control all the elements. Oh, shit." She looked at a point above my head.

"What are you staring at?" I asked, then looked up. A bright green trident was slowly revolving around my head. All of the campers started to bow, but the woman held up her hand, telling them not to. She was still staring above my head.

"Oh, double shit." she muttered. I looked above my head again. Next to the trident was a silver crescent moon. What in the world did that mean? The woman stood, and pulled me up with her.

"All hail the Lady Arielle, and her brother of the prophecy, Lord Scorpius!" Chiron yelled. Then all the campers bowed. I looked around, panicking slightly. Prophecy? What prophecy? The woman, Arielle, turned to me.

"Hello little brother."


	2. Chapter 1

*Scorpius POV*

Holy crap. I've gone from mortal to demigod to god all in 3 days. I let out a stream of profanities. Arielle gave me a look. "What? I was just getting used to being a half-blood, and now I'm a god? Don't tell me I can't cuss at that."

"Well I don't really like seeing a young boy cussing like a sailor." she said disapprovingly.

"Yep, that's me, the sailor. And I'm not that young!"

"I'm 5923 years old. You are very very young."

"Shit. That's damned old." I said, a grin on my face. She glared at me.

"Oh, you are so lucky you're my brother and an immortal or I would be blowing you up right now."

"I have more important things on my mind...like does Camp Half-Blood keep gods? Where in the world am I going to be staying if not? When can I murder you? Oh, kidding about that last part."

Her face softened. "You are one unique little squirt."

"Lady Ara, let's go up to the Big House." Chiron said after yelling at the campers to go back to their cabins to get ready for the campfire. I looked at Arielle.

"Ara? Is that a nickname?" I asked, kind of confused.

She smiled disdainfully. "Only to those close to me." I frowned, now unsure of what to call her. Oh, well. I'll just come up with a stupid nickname for her. Since she's my sister and all.

*Ara POV*

I turned away from Scorpius, now annoyed. I heard his thought about the stupid nickname, and he had better not do it, or else. I popped to the house, not bothering to wait for him or Chiron. I was kind of pissed anyway because of Hades. I knew he sent that hellhound, and he was going to pay for it. I walked out onto the porch and sat down in the best chair.

"Hey get out of my seat!" said an annoyed Dionysus from behind me.

"Go fall in a hole and die. Or just sit and rot. Whichever you prefer."

"Preferably slowly rot, because I can turn into a flesh-eating zombie and kill you." he laughed dramatically, dark and evil.

I sighed. "Have you been watching zombie killer movies again? What happened to the Friday 13th obsession?"

"Dinner is starting. I hate this place. And I never had an obsession." he said before disappearing. Loony old drunk always had an obsession. He just won't admit it.

I popped down to the campfire as well, but unfortunately landed in the middle of the milling crowd of campers. Dionysus was sitting at the head of the table as usual, and he called them all to order. They all sat at their tables, warily watching me. I went to sit at the Poseidon table, even though I had my own. It was completely empty execpt for Percy. I abruptly stopped and looked at the Hermes table. Scorpius was sitting there, in between the Stoll brothers. Their heads were bent, like they were hatching some diabolical plan.

I scowled, then walked over to the table and picked Scorpius up by his collar. "Come sit at the Poseidon table where you belong." I hissed in his ear. He looked up, surprised. I heard Dionysus sigh.

"Any day, Ara." he said, bored. Without looking I set his hair on fire. Scorpius got up and joined Percy and I at the table. I sat by Percy and watched, amused, as Dionysus screamed like a little girl, jumping up and down and smacking his head. Finally, some wood nymphs poured water over his head. He sat down, and cast an angry look in my direction. I met his stare proudly, till he was forced to look away.

"Let's get started then. I'm hungry." I yelled. Kids started looking down, ordering their drinks, and getting barbeque from nymphs. I looked down at my goblet and said clearly, "Barq's root beer." It quickly filled, and I took a sip. Even though I'm a goddess I do enjoy mortal drinks and food at times. Some frightened-looking nymphs walked up to me, and set ambrosia squares and barbeque on my plate, as well as Scorpius'.

I turned to talk to him while everyone went to put an offering to the gods in the pit. Breathing in the scent, I studied him curiously. "So, what's your last name kid?"

"I wish I knew." he replied, shoveling in barbeque. He looked down at his goblet. "Dr. Pepper and root beer mixed." The goblet filled, and his face lit up like Christmas morning. Ew.

"Well I suppose your last name can be Phoenix now." I broke off a chunk of ambrosia.

"Phoenix? Not very catchy but I'll try it."

"Not very catchy? You had better watch your mouth."

"Sing-Along time!" Chiron randomly announced.

Everyone stood and walked down to the big firepit to sit on the logs. Scorpius ran to the Stoll brothers and they walked down to the pit together. I walked too, not wanting to look lazy like Dionysus by popping a few feet. While I walked, I changed my battle-armor into a black ruffled corset top and black skinny jeans with black converse boots. Yes, all black. I pulled the band out of my hair and shook it out. It curled around my face in waves. I ran my fingers through it, tugging out any knots. Then, checking to make sure the necklace I always wore was still in place, I dashed the rest of the way to the campfire. I went to sit at the only open log left. At least everyone knew to save me a spot.

I spotted a blonde-haired girl moving in my direction. I smiled, my normally stone-cold face softening into a relaxed state. "Annabeth! Come sit by me!" She smiled back at me, and obliged.

"Hey Ara! What's up? I haven't seen you around in a while!" she said cheerily. I was best friends with her mom, and she was one of the few campers who felt comfortable around me.

"Oh, the usual. Making fun of any god who annoys me, or just blowing them up. And I have to keep an eye on Scorpius...he's planning something with those Stoll brothers."

She blushed. I caught a thought from her, one that really shocked me. "You aren't serious." I said, incredulous.

"Serious about what?" she said innocently. I started to say more, but was cut off by the sound of a dirtbike coming from the woods. The Apollo campers, who were warming up their vocal chords, were suddenly drowned out by loud, high guitar notes that crashed and resonated through the camp. They finished off with an earsplitting shriek. Someone didn't know how to work an amp.

Then, Travis jumped out from behind the campers and yelled, "Welcome! To the X-Games! Camp Half-Blood style! Our first contestant is....SCORPIUS PHOENIX!"

Scorpius came out of the woods on the dirtbike, and I wondered what he was aiming at. Then I saw the huge ramp that Connor had suddenly drug out. Scorpius hit the ramp at amazing speeds, and did three backflips on the handlebars. Holy Zeus. I soooo had to try that out!

But something went wrong as he headed towards the ground. His front wheel looked like it was going to smash into the earth, but instead of crashing like I thought he would, he did a front wheelie. After he landed, Travis Connor, and Scorpius all bellowed at the same time, "THAT'S IT, FOLKS!" I could barely contain my laughter. I'm sure it was a sight, seeing the cold Goddess of Destruction clutching her sides and nearly crying with laughter. Chiron didn't seem so amused. He trotted off to round up the troublemakers. Then he took them up to the Big House, probably to let Dionysus yell at them.

I popped up to the Big House, and sure enough, Dionysus was red in the face and bellowing at Scorpius, who was standing straight and tall, grinning proudly.

"Diny. Leave him alone. You know it was great."

"Yeah, besides, _Diny_, I'm a god now! You can't push me around!" Then, in a very good imitation of Dionysus, he said haugtily, "Fetch me some rootbeer, I'm too busy trying to kick this virtual demon Blinky's buttox!" Travis and Connor giggled, and I tried my best not to join in.

"Even though you are a god though, you can't really say that to him. You don't have a reputation yet. I'm sure the only reason why Diny hasn't turned you into a prune is because he knows I would get him back, very you remember that one Valentine's party at Athena's temple? I do. Maybe Scorpius should hear the story..." I said the last bit to Dionysus.

"N-n-no. But I do know two people that aren't gods! Or protected by any!" He then proceeded to yell at the Stoll brothers. I groaned. This _might_ take a while...

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**I hope you enjoy this so far! By the way, I'm writing this with the help of Scorpius21. We made our usernames match the new gods in the story 'cuz we love the names! Review pretty please! Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 2

*Scorpius POV*

Can you get them out of trouble too? Please?" I asked Ara quietly. She nodded, then went back to threatening Dionysus. So far, I was finding out my big sister was very cool.

Then Chiron ruined the moment by yelling again. "Time to actually do the Sing-Along!" After Ara got Travis and Connor in the clear, we all walked back down to the firepit together.

"I was wondering, Lady Ara, if you would grace us with a song." Chiron asked Ara loudly. She glanced furtively around.

"Did you need to yell it? Sure. Only if my brother will sing with me." She said firmly.

I hopped up, grinning widely again, and joined her on the small stage she had formed out of rock. "What are we going to sing?" I asked her quietly.

"What do you know?" She looked wary. "I really hope you don't say anything country."

"He-I mean heck no! How about...Shinedown, or Seether, or Disturbed?" I exclaimed.

"Yes! You are very cool, little bro! Let's do Rise Above This by Seether!"She said excitedly. Definitely very cool.

"Okay! But are we going to sing without music?" She grinned, then a shiny black electric guitar with amps appeared on the stage behind us, and a drum set.

"Nope! Go play your drums!" she turned to get her guitar off the stand it was sitting on. How did she know? I definitely had to ask how she knew things sooner or later. I went to the back and sat on the stool behind the drums. I picked up the sticks, and marked the beat.

_Take the light, and darken everything around me  
Call the clowns and listen closely, I'm lost without you  
Call your name every day when I feel so helpless  
I've fallen down but I'll rise above this, rise above this_

Hate the mind, regrets are better left unspoken  
For all we know, this void will grow and  
Everything's in vain, distressing you though it leaves me open  
Feels so right, but I'll end this all before it gets me

Call your name every day, when I feel so helpless  
I've fallen down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this  
Call your name every day, when I seem so helpless  
I've fallen down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this doubt

I'll mend myself before it gets me  
(I'll mend myself before it gets me)  
I'll mend myself before it gets me  
(I'll mend myself before it gets me)

Call your name every day, when I feel so helpless  
I've fallen down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this  
Call your name every day, when I seem so helpless  
I've fallen down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this  
Forty eight ways to say that I'm feelin' helpless  
Fallen down, fallen down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this

_doubt_

Her voice was an octave higher than the original singer's, but it was still beautiful. She moved up and down the scales effortlessly, and had everyone in the crowd wide-eyed in shock. Her fingers were nimble over the guitar's neck, and she played every part perfectly. I added in my low, husky voice to the mix, and even without a bass and rhythmist, we sounded amazing. I kept the beat smooth and even added in my own extra bits here and there. After we finished the song, the entire camp erupted in applause. From the sounds coming from the forest, even the wood nymphs and dryads were clapping. Ara took a bow, then I stood and did too.

"I'd like to do another song, but neither one of us has the right voice for it." She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.I wondered what she was planning. Suddenly, the earth started rumbling, and a giant crack appeared in the ground off to the left of the stage. Some people screamed, and they would of started running if Ara hadn't been beaming at the crack like it was the best thing she'd seen in a while.

Black fire erupted from the crag, and when it dissapated, a tall man stood in its place. He had shoulder-length midnight black hair, and black eyes that seemed to glow with an eternal fire. He had some pretty big muscles, but it wasn't overdone. He wore black jeans and a black button-up shirt. The kids stared, completely frozen in fear. I wondered who he was to make everyone so afraid. But Ara was still grinning like an idiot. Then, she frowned.

"I almost forgot! I'm angry at you!" she said, jumping down from the stage.

"You're angry at me? Why didn't you tell me? I would of made up by now." he said coldly.

"Oh shut up you ass! You set a hellhound on my brother!" she said, clearly getting angry.

"No I did _not_! I just opened the portal. The hellhound attacked whomever it wanted. It's not my fault your brother is a weakling!"

Suddenly, Ara grinned again. "Damn you, I never can stay angry at you for long." She ran forward and gave him a hug. His cold mask was instantly broken, and he grinned back at her.

"What were we arguing about? When I stare into your beautiful eyes...uh- I mean, cold, dead, hurtful, angry, ugly, mean-" She cut him off.

"Oh shove it before I decide to get angry at you again!" But she was still smiling. Was this her boyfriend? But she nullified that thought with her next words. "How is Persephone?" Wait. Persephone? So that means...that's Hades!? No wonder everyone's terrified. Hades' face instantly darkened.

"Being a bitch, as usual. Took me forever to get here. She wouldn't stop yelling and nagging me. I wanted to be here for the first song." she took his hand consolingly.

"Come on then, you can play bass." Hades followed her up to the stage, glaring at anyone who would stare at him. Ara made a bass appear and handed it to him. I have to admit, this was a very strange sight. After all, what I knew about Greek mythology, Hades was supposed to be cold and distant.

"Wait let me get this straight...Hades is married to Persephone, but he's flirting with my sister. Won't Persephone get mad? And isn't he our uncle?" I whispered to Travis, who was lurking in the shadows behind the stage.

"Yeah but I've heard that Persephone resents Hades more than ever, and makes his life miserable. Hades has been trying to get rid of her for years. Apparently he doesn't love her anymore. Can't blame him, I met her once. Awful. As for him being your uncle, he's not really. You guys were born from the ocean and the moon, not any gods or anything. Technically, you guys are only related to each other." he whispered hurriedly as Hades fixed the bass to the way he liked it.

I nodded. That made sense. "Has she had any boyfriends? Or have one now?" I asked, curious, and feeling slightly protective.

Travis looked scared. "She went out with Ares not too long ago, but he was not surprisingly, cheating on her with Aprhodite. It was bad. Your sister has a temper. And she's not stupid. She can read minds you know. That's how she knew so quickly. Some other gods had to stop her from killing him." I laughed. I could so imagine that.

"Remind me to kick Ares' ass later." I said. Travis nodded nervously.

*Ara POV*

I waited while Hades fixed the bass, then told him what song I wanted him to sing. His voice was perfect for the song, rough, but not in a bad way, and he could scream. I laughed to myself. Scorpius turned from Travis and asked me what song we were doing.

"Inside the Fire by Disturbed. Hades is going to sing, and it's like his song. I find it funny." I answered him. He smiled, probably thinking of the lyrics. Then we started to play.

_Ooh, Devon, won't go to heaven  
She's just another lost soul about to be mine again  
Leave her, we will receive her  
It is beyond your control, will you ever meet again_

Devon, among eleven  
Who had been rendered unwhole as a little child  
She was taken and then forsaken  
You will remember it all, let it blow your mind again

Devon lies beyond this portal  
Take the word of one immortal

Give your soul to me for eternity  
Release your life to begin another time with her  
End your grief with me, there's another way  
Release your life, take your place inside the fire with her

Sever, now and forever  
You're just another lost soul about to be mine again  
See her, you'll never free her  
You must surrender it all and give life to me again

Fire, all you desire  
As she begins to turn cold and run out of time  
You will shiver till you deliver  
You will remember it all, let it blow your mind again

Devon lies beyond this portal  
Take the word of one immortal

Give your soul to me for eternity  
Release your life to begin another time with her  
End your grief with me, there's another way  
Release your life, take your place inside the fire with her

Give your soul to me for eternity  
Release your life to begin another time with her  
End your grief with me, there's another way  
Release your life, take your place inside the fire with her

Ooh, Devon, among eleven  
Who had been rendered unwhole as a little child  
She was taken and then forsaken  
You will remember it all, let it blow your mind again

We finished with Hades' evil laugh ringing through the camp. I yawned, stretching like a cat. I turned to Scorpius.

"You are going to be staying with me, but first, unfortunately, you have to meet Zeus." Thunder rumbled ominously. "Oh, shove it you old gasbag!" I yelled at the sky. Hades came up behind me.

"So, you wanna go out some time? Me, you...spitballs aimed at Persephone..." he smiled, joking.

"Maybe later. I have a shopping trip with Alice tomorrow though, so that's out." I said teasingly. "I am afraid of what she will force me to get."

"Hey, where'd the weakling go? I wanted to meet him." He looked around. I did too, and saw Annabeth and Scorpius walking to the Athena cabin, talking. I smiled. She was serious.

"Oh, young Annabeth has a crush on him. And I think he likes her back."

"Why don't you just read their minds to check? You invade everyone else's privacy."

"I don't invade yours! Often." I smacked him on the arm. He grinned, rubbing his arm.

"I have to go. Persephone will be pissed at me, I'm sure." He gave me another hug, and then disappeared in a column of smoke. I coughed, waving my hand through the air. He sure knew how to annoy me. I stalked towards the Athena cabin, where I could still see Annabeth and Scorpius talking outside. Time to go meet the Council.

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**Yeah, there's going to be a little Perachel in this story because, as you can see, Annabeth is with someone else. :) I'm sorry to Percabeth lovers but I wanted Annabeth with Scorpius. Sorry! Review please!**


	4. Chapter 3

*Ara POV*

Catching up with the two lovebirds, I grabbed Scorpius by the arm.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"Did you not hear what I said? You have to go meet the Council."

"Is Ares part of the Council?"

"Yes. It's all the gods and goddesses. We've been waiting for you for a long time. We were kind of off-balance for 5000 years you know. Or so the guys thought. They said I was like having 5 new goddesses because I'm so powerful."

"Wow." He looked shocked. "So how do we get there?"

"I pop you there of course."

"What's popping?"

"It's a transportation method. I shorten it to 'popping'. It's easier to say."

"Oh." I grabbed hold of his arm securely, and waving goodbye to Annabeth, popped him to Mount Olympus.

"That's fast. Is that guy Ares?" He pointed to a burly guy in a leather jacket. I sighed. Why did he care to see Ares so much?

"What's it to ya, punk?" Ares growled menacingly.

"Nothing. It's just I heard you're a chickenshit." He said nonchalantly. I suppressed a giggle. This kid could make me laugh, that's for sure.

Ares wasn't so amused. He growled. "How about I knock your teeth out? Rearrange that pretty-boy face of yours!"

"Well...okay. I've been bored lately...so why not?" He shot an arc of fire at Ares, whose leather jacket melted from the heat. He was jumping around, much like Dionysus, cussing like crazy and trying to pull it off. I put my hands over Scorpius' ears, afraid he would learn more.

"Come on Scorpius, let's go to the main hall." I pulled him, and Ares followed, still cussing. We walked into the giant, ornate room with the 13 thrones. Mine had been added 5000 years ago, and now we finally got to add another. I steered Scorpius to the center of the room, then went to sit in my throne which was to the left of Hera's. Demeter sat on my left, and when I sat she smiled coldly at me before turning to face my brother. She didn't like me very much. The feeling was mutual.

My throne was a midnight blackish blue, like the sky at night. It was very large, two people could sit in it. It had little stars that glowed brightly all over it, and right above my head, a giant crescent moon over the ocean's waves was set in onyx stone. It was shaped like a regular throne, and Hesphaestus had done an amazing job on it. I watched my brother's face carefully, hoping he wouldn't show fear. He didn't.

"Let me guess, you're the new god. Right?" Zeus looked bored. Scorpius nodded.

"I do have one question. What am I the god of? Can I be the god of bubble-wrap!?" he asked, an impish grin on his face. He knew how to lighten the mood. I wasn't the only one that laughed.

Athena looked genuinely curious. "Why?"

"Because it's all...bubbly and...fun to pop!" Scorpius answered.

"True that!" exclaimed Apollo, who was listening to his iPod. I had a feeling that a certain friendship would come up between those two.

Zeus sighed. "I would make you god of comedy, but that's a pretty lame power."

"I don't think he needs it anyway; he's funny enough!" I said proudly. "What are you good at Scorpius? What are your special abilities?"

"I know what mine are!" yelled Apollo. Apparently his music was turned up. How he heard us, I have no idea.

"I'm...good at....ummm...moving stuff." he said sheepishly.

"Moving stuff? Like telekinesis?" asked Artemis. She leaned forward to stare at him.

"Yeah. I've been known to push stuff that's ten feet away from me. It freaks me out at times."

"You can be the god of motion then!" Zeus proclaimed. I jumped at the sudden noise. Ares sneered down at Scorpius.

"What a wimpy power." he said through clenched teeth.

"I don't think so. It's fun to do this." And with that, Scorpius made Ares rise out of his throne and then flung him into the fire. Ares then started screaming like a little girl.

Dionysus watched curiously. "Hmmm...it is pretty funny when you're not on the recieving end of it."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" yelled Apollo. Dionysus flinched, then turned his gaze down, like he was embarrassed. Which he was.

"I bet five bucks whatever it was, Ara did it." said Hermes, trying not to laugh. "She's the best prankster I've seen in years!"

I grinned widely, then jumped down from my throne to stand by Scorpius. "So, now that you've gotten your...er...job then you need to talk with Hesphaestus soon to design your throne."

"Okayokayokayokay...ooohhh that's going to be fun!" he said all this in one breath.

"Yes a new project! Can't get enough new projects, oh so fun!" Hesphaestus rubbed his hands together.

"Oh, by the way, Scorpius, this is your adopted dad. Selene is you adopted mother, the goddess of the moon, even though the mortals think Artemis is." I gestured to Poseidon, who stood, and came to give him a hug.

"Daddy!" Scorpius said like a little kid. Inwardly, I groaned. I had to get him out of this weird kid-like stage.

"If you haven't already guessed, that old fart is Zeus. He's not your adopted uncle, because he doesn't want to be. I was....er...'raised' calling him some sort of bad name." I explained. Zeus glowered at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Yay I can call him bad names too! Bitch."

Zeus lurched out of his throne. "I tolerated your sister but I won't take disrespect from you in my own house!" I held up my hand, cautioning him.

Then Ares chose to roll out of the fire finally. All he had left was singed underwear, and I turned my face away in disgust. "I'm going to kill you kid!" he hollered.

"Do you really want me to push you in the fire again?" Scorpius asked quietly. Ares looked frightened then, and shook his head no. I smiled. Scorpius was already gaining his rep.

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**In this story, the gods are all 15 feet tall and everything, and they have the burn-you-with-one-look-at-them-in-their-godly-forms-thing, but since Scorpius and Ara are both gods, it's normal for them. So they are all the same height and everything. But I won't go into detail about them being tall and glowing in their true godly forms much. Thanks for reading! Review please!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Oh, yes, and Bella is a vampire already in this. A newborn. :)**

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*Ara POV*

After the meeting adjourned, I took Scorpius to my temple. It was like my throne, but had images carved into the wall of people and things being blown up and destroyed. Hey, remember? Goddess of Destruction. Scorpius would have his own soon.

"So let me get this straight...I can pop anywhere I want, in the whole world?" he asked.

"Yes, and even to some parallel universes, but you can't go to them all the time 'cuz you might get trapped."

"Okay...then...bye!" he disappeared. I cursed. Well, since he's gone, maybe some friends would want to come over. I went into the temple, which was decorated all in black and red, to get my phone. I dialed in the Cullen's number, then as it rang, got a glass of chocolate milk from the fridge. Alice answered on the 3rd ring. She sounded...occupied.

"Hell-hello? Stop Jasper! I'm trying to talk to Ara!" She let out a small scream. I heard Jasper's voice in the background.

"Please let me tickle you Alice! You're good enough to eat!" I heard him tease. Alice gasped and there was the sound of struggle. Then she started laughing, high, bell-like tones that became louder and louder. I held the phone from my ear slightly, wondering if this was a bad time. Finally she stopped.

"Sorry Ara. Jasper's horny." Alice said. I heard a muffled "Hey!" from somewhere in the background.

"It's okay Alice. I was wondering if you, Rosalie, Bella, and Esme would want to come spend the night."

"Sure! Let me go ask them!" I heard the slight sound of her dashing down the stairs.

"Like you don't already know." I muttered. She laughed again, but proceeded in asking everyone if they wanted to stay the night. They all agreed, and they went to pack an overnight bag. Scorpius chose that moment to pop up in front of me.

"Whazzup!?" he said in a high-pitched voice. I merely nodded in greeting then gave him my glass of milk. He chugged it down, and ended up with a chocolate mustache. I smiled at the silly look on his face.

"Okay Ara we're ready!" Alice exclaimed. I closed my eyes, concentrating, then popped them into the kitchen with me. Alice squealed and ran forward to give me a hug. I hugged her back, then pulled out of her stone grasp and gave Rosalie, Esme, and Bella all hugs in turn. Bella stared warily at Scorpius.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"This is my brother, Scorpius." I turned to introduce him to everyone. "Scorpius, this is Bella, Esme, Rosalie, and this little turd is Alice." Alice gave me a look but happily bounded forward to hug Scorpius. He looked slightly surprised, but then an evil grin spread across his face and he hugged her back. "Scorpius, they all have husbands." I said before he could start something.

"It's not that! I already have a girlfriend- I mean...damn."

"You think I didn't know that?" I asked, laughing at his expression. "You know, I never asked. How old are you?"

"I'm 15!" He exclaimed proudly.

'And Annabeth is only 14, right?" He nodded. Oh, well. Alice blew past me to the living room. I noticed she was carrying 4 giant bags. Oh no.

"Alice? Why do you have 4 bags?" I asked suspicously. She smiled innocently at me.

"I brang all of my makeup...'cuz we're doing MAKEOVERS!" I groaned. Rosalie and Esme looked excited, but Bella apparently shared my opinion of Alice's barbie style attitude.

"I call giving Ara a makeover!" Scorpius yelled. Oh, nonono...

"No way!" Alice said sharply. "I do allll the makeovers! You included!" she pointed her finger at him, a devilish look on her face.

"Fine then! I need to talk to you privately though!" he exclaimed, then dragged Alice out of the room. That can't be good.

"So, Ara, found yourself any new boyfriends yet?" Rosalie asked, coming to sit down by me on my giant leather couch.

"Nope. You make me sound like a w**** you know."

"I know. I enjoy it." She said smugly.

Alice reentered the room, with Scorpius tagging behind her. Her expression was carefully controlled, and it made me afraid. Scorpius just grinned at me, then popped away. Oh, he was going to get it later. I made a washcloth appear beside me and washed away the residue from my stark black eyeliner so I would be ready for whatever Alice had planned.

"Ready girls? Formation 25!" Alice barked like a commander of an army. All of the girls ran to me and drug me to a chair where they strapped me down. I let them, only struggling a bit, knowing I could get out easily if things got out of hand.

*Three hours later*

"Mirror!" Alice barked again. I hesitantly took it from Esme's grasp, now scared shitless. What I saw in the mirror made me gasp. I looked like Gene Simmons from Kiss! I screamed. Alice was rolling around on the floor laughing, while Esme, Rosalie, and Bella grinned at each other.

Alice jumped up and grabbed my phone. "The work is done master." She said in a deep and serious voice. Then Scorpius popped in front of me with a camera, took a picture, then popped away.

"No!" I screamed loudly. I broke free from my bonds and started rubbing furiously at my face. I grabbed my washcloth from earlier and washed my face off again. I swore revenge on Scorpius. The rest of the girl's night passed in a blur. We told each other secrets like little teenage girls, did our nails, and watched horror films till early in the morning. I ended up falling asleep, stretched out across Rosalie, Esme, and Bella's legs at around 5 in the morning. They stayed up, laughing and talking. Besides the makeover incident, it was the best girl's night I had in a while.

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**I hope this story doesn't suck! Thank you for reading, review please!**


	6. Chapter 5

**By the way, please don't try any of the stuff the Cullens or Ara and Scorpius do at home. Like the dirtbike thing. Or this thing that's going to happen. :D AND THANK YOU TO THE THREE PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED! WE LOVE YOU ALL! okay, im done. please continue reading. haha**

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*Scorpius POV*

Oh my gods! I couldn't believe Alice actually did it! I should give this picture to Zeus or somebody and have them post it on the Olympian web! I was kind of afraid of what Ara's going to do to get revenge...maybe Apollo will help me with keeping her from it. But I couldn't worry much about all of this because my girlfriend and I were going on our first date. I was very excited about it, but I hadn't figured out where to take her yet. Maybe I shouldn't of done that thing with Ara...I could of asked her for help! Maybe Alice will help me again...

I looked at the calendar hanging on the wall in Ara's guest bedroom. Today was the fourth of July! How did I miss that? What a lifesaver! I could take her to that! She was probably expecting it anyway. I could take her to Washington DC and watch the fireworks there. From on top of the White House! Perfect! She would love it. I hope.

*Ara POV*

I groaned, and rolled off of something hard digging into my back. I landed face-first on the floor, and all I could see was someone's legs dressed in some type of designer jeans by me. I heard giggling and Alice's face came into my view.

"You okay Sleeping Beauty?" She asked. The legs I had first saw moved, and Rosalie's face appeared by Alice's.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." I said sarcastically. I stretched on the floor, then stood up and stumbled to the bathroom to assess the damage. "I hope I didn't bore you all when I crashed on your legs."

"It was fine Ara. Besides it was really early when you did fall asleep. It's only 8 now. You didn't sleep long." Esme said kindly.

"Ara, I'm really sorry bout the makeup thing though. You don't hold grudges do you?" Alice asked me desperately.

"I don't with best friends, Twitter." I smiled at her in the mirror. She grinned at the nickname I had given her so long ago. My face was normal, it seemed, besides the dark circles under my eyes from hardly any sleep. My hair was a tangled mass of black locks, but it was tameable for today, I supposed.

"I really need to give you a good nickname." Alice mused. She then stepped forward and started fixing my hair for me. While she did, I took off my clothes from yesterday. I pulled on ripped black jeans and a black Slipknot tank top. I had slept in my bra last night anyway. Alice's nimble fingers easily moved with my hair while I knelt down to change and pull on my tattered black converse hi-tops.

I straightened up again, and she was in my face suddenly, a stick of black eyeliner in one hand and foundation/concealer in the other. I held still while she did my makeup. When I looked in the mirror again, the dark circles where almost completely concealed, and my eye makeup was just the way I liked it. My hair was silky and loose. Alice was such a professional when she did stuff the way I liked it. I smiled and turned to give her a hug.

"It's perfect Alice. You know, it's kind of creepy. Do you stalk me?" I teased. She didn't answer, merely grinning at me.

"You're coming over today." She stated. I pretended to be offended.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because the Cullens are holding a giant fireworks festival! Where have you been the last 100 years?" she said in mock annoyance. The Cullens did indeed hold a giant fireworks 'festival' for themselves and friends. I had been going since the first one. The Denali clan was usually there, and I sometimes brang some friends with me. They held it in the same field they used to play baseball.

"When do I come over?"

"When all great parties start! Now!" She grabbed hold of my hand and we ran back out to the living room that was already cleaned. Esme and Rosalie had their bags already packed, and Bella was just finishing hers and Alice's.

"And guess what else we're starting this year?" Rosalie said excitedly. "Everyone gets 3 sticks of Roman candles, and we light them up and shoot them at each other!"

"I can so bet that was Emmett's idea." I laughed, thinking of the giant teddy bear-like vampire.

Rosalie nodded, and we all held hands, so I could pop them into their house. We landed in the middle of their crowded living room. It was like I was greeted from every side of the room.

"Hey Ara!"

"Hey Araaaaa! Looking goooood!" Yelled Emmett, followed by a wolf-whistle. I heard a crack and figured Rosalie had whopped him on the back of the head.

"Hello Ara." said a quiet voice from behind me. I turned to Carlisle and gave him a big hug.

"Hey Carlisle! Who all is here? And it's so early!"

"The Denali Clan, and they brought along some other friends. They are all vampires, and none of them are vegetarians." he said quietly. Then, a smile lit up his face. "Yeah...I have something special planned...I've been working on it for over a year! With Rosalie's help of course."

"Should I be afraid?"

"Yes. Very, very afraid." he leered at me. Esme gave him a hug from behind, and he turned to wrap his arms around her. "Did you have a fun time honey?" He kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I did. Ara is always so very entertaining." she smiled up at him and returned the kiss. I smiled at them. They were such a cute couple. Perfect for each other. I had known Carlisle for 245 years now, and after he met her, I'd never seen him happier.

I mingled in the party for a few minutes before realizing something was missing. Scorpius. I should go get him. I disappeared, causing a couple of bright-haired vamps to stare at the place I had been in shock.

I appeared in Scorpius' room. He was up, staring at the calendar.

"Hey. I was just at a party at the Cullen's. Wanna come?" I asked. Then remembering something, I added, "And Annabeth has to come too of course."

"Um...well...hold on a sec...I have to get on the web and figure out when Washington DC shoots their fireworks. Besides, Annabeth is a human. I'm sure the vamps would _love _to eat her. I mean meet her."

"They wouldn't get past me and the Cullens. Besides, they are all on their best behavior. Why do you want to know when DC sets off their fireworks?"

"Eh...you know...I just like knowing random stuff like that."

"You have a reason. Don't make me pry."

"What does pry mean?"

"Don't make me incapacitate you then find out for myself what the hell you're talking about."

"Incapacitate? Isn't that where you slowly rot?"

"No it's not! Just tell me!"

"Fine. As long as you tell me what incapacitate means."

"Fine. After you tell me what you're talking about."

"No...cuz I know if I tell you what I'm talking about, you won't tell me what you're talking about!"

"Remember...you made me." I delved into his mind for the information. He wanted to take Annabeth to DC's fireworks? Psh. The Cullen's fireworks were much better. "The Cullens have fireworks, and they are tons better than any others."

"Wha-but you...cheater!"

"Oh, come on." I grabbed his arm and popped him to Camp Half-Blood. "Go get your girlfriend. I'm going to go drink some wine in front of Dionysus." When I entered the Big House, Dionysus was already drinking wine.

"Ooohh...I'm telling Zeussss..."

"Oh, please don't! I need it! Please don't tell Daddy!" He got down on his hands and knees and begged me.

"Don't be so pathetic. Fine. I'm taking Annabeth and Silena for today."

"Why Silena? I know why you're taking Anniebell."

"It's Annabeth. And I'm taking Silena too because I thought Annabeth might be more comfortable with another half-blood around. Oh, and I guess that means I'm taking Charles Beckendorf too."

"Charles and Beckendorf? I didn't know there was a Charles at camp."

"You are absurd. I'll be going now." I ran out the door to the Athena cabin. "Annabeth!"

"Hey Ara! So where are you taking us?" Annabeth was holding Scorpius' hand.

"You'll see. Where's Silena and Beckendorf?"

"They're down at the beach. I think it's time for one of their makeout sessions."

"Okay. Scorpius, take Annabeth to my place. I'll be there in a few." Scorpius nodded and disappeared with Annabeth in tow. I headed to the beach.

Charles and Silena were making out when I got there. I stopped, unsure of how to ask them or even interrupt. I settled with clearing my throat. It didn't work. I cleared it again, louder. Still nothing. Finally I gave a giant, fake cough. Silena jumped.

"Oh! Er...hello Lady Ara." Silena said, blushing crimson.

"No need for the formalities Silena. I'm sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you guys would want to come to a party with me."

"A party? With...you? That would be so cool!" She started bouncing up and down excitedly. Beckendorf looked nervous.

"Hey Beckendorf, I know a guy there that I'm sure you would get along with perfectly." I smiled, thinking of how Emmett and Beckendorf could hit it off.

"Okaaaaay...but if you start blowing things up, we're gone." He laughed.

"I only do that when I get pissy."

"You must get pissy alot." I growled at him. He took a step back, hands raised. "Just kidding." I smiled angelically.

"Okay then! Let's go!" We popped away to my house.

"PARTY TIME!" yelled Scorpius.

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**Hope you all enjoy so far...I can't tell how many people are reading so reviews would be greatly appreciated! Flames will be used to make S'mores. Thank you!**


	7. Chapter 6

*Ara POV*

When everyone finally got to the Cullen's house, I intoduced Emmett to Beckendorf, who both started talking about cars, and Alice to Silena, who started trading makeup and clothes tips. I smiled, happy, knowing my friend-making skills where just as good as my match-making. I even introduced Annabeth to Esme, and they spent their time talking about structural supports and designs for houses. Scorpius was kind of hard to come up with, but I finally decided on Edward, and they happily talked about music. I could understand that. I'm the one who taught Edward how to play his piano so well in the first place.

I carefully watched the 'non-vegetarian' vampires. At first, they stared at Annabeth, Silena and Beckendorf hungrily, but after I gave them my I'm-going-to-blow-you-up glare, they stopped.

I suddenly heard a pop from the middle of the room, and someone yelled, "I got away from Persephone!" Oh no.

"Hades! What are you doing here?" I stepped towards him, and stared in shock at the chains and manacles dangling from his wrists. "_She_ _chained you up?_" I was suddenly pissed. Then I heard another pop and the sickenly sweet scent of flowers filled the room. Everyone was standing in a circle around us, the music was paused, and tension filled the room.

"Hades! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Persephone yelled. Hades was unsuccessfully trying to hide his large body behind mine.

"What do you want 'Sephone?" I asked severely.

"To put my husband back in chains for his punishment!"

"Help me!" Hades whispered in my ear.

"Persephone, you can't treat the lord of the dead like that."

"Watch me," she hissed. My eyes narrowed. She wasn't going to do that to a friend.

"Why are you even in the Underworld? You should be with your mother. It's summertime."

"Mother decided she likes it better when I stay and torture Hades." By the time she said this I was trembling with anger.

My next words came out in a hiss through my clenched teeth. "The only reason I'm not blowing you up right now is because I don't think my friends would appreciate being covered head to toe in your _slime._" There was another pop and Demeter appeared beside Persephone.

"What do you think you're doing young lady? You're supposed to be helping me with the crops and such! Who gave you permission to leave? You have alot of explaining to do!" Demeter grabbed Persephone by the ear and they both popped away.

"Well. You sure know how to piss a girl off." I said to Hades, who had straightened up.

"Ah...thank you. Now could you get these off of me?" He held out his wrists. I twisted my fingers into the metal and pulled them off easily. It was something I learned to do while playing with earth.

"Um...what time is it?"

"It's 5 why?" I answered, confused.

"Oh, just wondering how long I was locked up for." He said nonchalantly. He was wearing the same thing he had been the other day. "How does this look?" He popped some different clothes on. It was all black, and his shirt said 'I see dead people!' in big block letters. I shook my head at his silliness, smiling.

"They look fine. I'm glad you finally got here. I thought you would miss the entire party."

"You know Ara, I've never seen you that pissed before." He smiled, looking down at me. It wasn't very fair, I was a whole head shorter than him.

"You haven't seen me pissed very often then." I smiled back up at him, and was going to say more when Esme came up to me.

"Thank you for not getting blood all over my living room." She laughed, a tinkling sound. "So, from that little scene, I'm guessing this is Hades, God of the Underworld?"

Hades bowed gallantly and kissed her hand like a gentleman. "Yes I am, and you are...?"

"Esme. I'm sure the rest of my family would love to meet you soon." She stepped away, probably to rejoin Carlisle in a dark corner.

I raised my eyebrows. If Rosalie says one thing.... I turned back to Hades. "So, what do you want to do? Mingle?"

He shook his head, staring out the giant glass windows in the back. "How about we go sit by the river out there? You can show me some new tricks." I agreed, and we went to sit by the river. I made a chair out of rocks, and had him sit in it while I waded out into the middle of the river. It was probably freezing cold, but I couldn't tell, because gods and goddesses don't exactly feel heat and cold the same way as humans, or vampires. To me, the river felt warm.

"You've ruined your clothes." He told me, staring at my shirt now clinging to my body.

I pulled the water up in swirls around me, and made a whips out of it. It whirled and thrashed around me, and I probably looked like an idiotic octopus. "Do you really wanna keep staring?"

He nodded eagerly. Wrong thing to do. I lifted my arms, my palms facing out from me, then brang them forward, turning the whips into ice. They stopped, half an inch from his chest. He was as far back in his chair as possible, eyes wide.

"You get a second try."

"Yes." He said. He was a fearless shit, I'd give him that. Or maybe he just knew I wouldn't kill him.

"Fine." I pushed the ice spears forward, but when they hit his chest, they turned into water, soaking his clothes.

"Do you know what would make you look even better? If you were wearing a white t-shirt." He mused, still staring at me.

"White!? Never!"

"Okay...maybe just your birthday suit then." I gasped, and quickly formed a giant hand of water and slapped him with it, effectively soaking his hair as well. His black eyes burned into mine, and he didn't move as I readied myself for another one. Suddenly, Dionysus came out from behind a tree.

"Oh, hello Ara. You know how fun it is making Hades drunk so he'll spill all his secrets? He wanted to say white t-shirt but he was just thinking birthday suit."

"Dammit why must you come at the worst times?"

"I do not come at the worst times! Hades has a thing for you." I glanced over at him, but he was just staring blankly into space.

"We're just friends. He likes to flirt. With any girl he sees. Not just me."

"Ooo...do you want me to make him speak his mind now? Being drunk does that you know." Dionysus snapped his fingers.

"You're so pretty...no-not pretty, you're beautifuuuulllll.....I love you...do you love me back?" Hades' eyes grew wide and pleading.

"You know, being drunk also causes you to say stuff you don't mean as well. How can I know he's telling the truth?" I said to Dionysus.

"Okay read his mind then Miss Negative. I'll even take his drunkeness away." With that, he popped away.

I turned to watch as the sun slowly sunk below the horizon. We'd been out here for a while.

"Why aren't you doing the moves?" Hades' voice came from somewhere in the darkness. "Was Dionysus here? I thought I smelled wine. And my vision went fuzzy for a minute. It was like I wa-he didn't! He turned me drunk didn't he!? Oh great. What did I say?"

"Nothing important. Come on, the fireworks have to be starting soon." A black flame leapt up in my hand and I walked over to him, leading him back to the house.

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**Okay...please review!**


	8. Chapter 7

*Ara POV*

When we got back to the house, everyone was forming groups to ride in other's cars to the baseball field. I found Annabeth, Scorpius, Beckendorf and Silena all huddled in a corner.

"You guys can ride with me."

"Oh, what kind of car do you have?" Beckendorf got the 'mechanical' look on his face. I laughed, and took hold of Scorpius' other arm.

"It's a black Ferrari F430."

Beckendorf's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. "I _love_ those!" He started going into the horsepower and who knows what else. Scorpius nodded his head appreciatevly. We went outside and I popped my car into the drive. Everyone stared, even though they all had nice cars of a similar nature.

We all got in, and I revved the engine, making sure everyone got a good look. Then we went flying in a donut, causing gravel to spray in all directions, and the girls in the back to scream bloody murder. As I flung the car around, I saw Carlisle standing a few feet from his car, a grin on his face at my show. I screeched to a stop, then floored it, aiming right at him.

His grin grew more pronounced, then was replaced with shock as he wondered if I was going to miss him. I didn't. With a triumphant grin on my face, I smashed into his rock-hard body. It crumpled the front of my car, and probably the undersides too, seeing as I ran over him as well. I threw the car into reverse, and made sure to back over him for good measure. I pushed it back into drive, now laughing with everyone else, and we raced out of the drive, heading to the field. I saw him leap up, the death glare on his face. I decided to speed up more.

When we made it to the field, Carlisle was right behind us, most definitely wanting to get me back. Hades was laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. I jumped out of the car and fixed the crumpled parts with a snap of my fingers.

"YOU ARE BANISHED FROM THIS PARTY!!!" Carlisle bellowed from behind me. I turned, not even the slightest bit ashamed, to get my punishment.

"You don't want to get rid of the life of the party do you?" I taunted.

He muttered a babble of unintelligible words before muttering, "Fine."

"You have to admit it was funny. And there's no way it hurt you."

He was about to answer me when Emmett came running up from his Jeep. "Yeaaaaah Ara that was GREAT!" He gave me a high-five, making me jump really high to reach his hand.

Hades came up behind me, followed by Dionysus again. "Well...I can't wait to see what you two will do together when I make you _both _drunk!" Dionysus picked at his fingernails. Before Hades could even turn around, before I could even act, he snapped his fingers, and a dull haze came over the crowd, filling my vision.

*Scorpius POV*

I got out of the car to congratulate Ara, and found her staring into Hades' eyes with a dazed look. Dionysus was videotaping it, and I stepped up to listen in.

"I already told you I love you. Don't you believe me?" Hades' words were slurred.

"I think I do. I've only known you for..." Ara counted on her fingers. I doubt she had that many fingers. "Ive only known you for 100 years! That's not very long....well...I did know you before that but I didn't know you very well, you were just an acquaintance, I know you better now, I used to think you were cold and-" Her random babbling was cut off by Hades' lips covering hers.

The crowd aaawed and ooohed and wolf-whistled. I stalked up to Dionysus and slapped him, wanting them to get sober and see what they'd done.

*Ara POV*

My mind cleared, and I opened my eyes to see Hades kissing me. I pulled away, shocked, wondering what had been going on and what else we had been doing. Scorpius was chewing out Dionysus, and for good reason. I looked at the ground, and touched my fingers to my lips. They tingled weirdly, something I had never felt before. I wondered vaguely if I needed chapstick.

"Um...um...um..." Hades stared at me for half a second longer before disappearing into the crowd. Oh, shit.

"Dionysus you idiot! What do you think you're doing meddling in other people's affairs! You aren't Aphrodite dammit!" Scorpius was still yelling at Dionysus. I walked over to him and laid a hand on his arm to calm him.

"Yeah, that's right little brat, just back off like your sister is trying to get you to do."

"Oh, that's it." I let go of Scorpius' arm as he dashed forward and landed a solid right hook on Dionysus' cheek. He grabbed it, a horrified look on his face, and popped away. It was then that I noticed the crowd around us. Damn, my family could cause a scene. "Okay I'm good, let's go watch the fireworks." Scorpius brushed invisible dust off his shoulder then started to walk away, but before he could, I grabbed hold of his arm and jerked him to me. I wrapped my arms around him in a big hug, kissing him on the cheek.

He grinned cheekily at me, then waltzed off to get Annabeth. I strayed towards the trees, looking at the full moon. Suddenly, I heard Rosalie's voice over a megaphone, and realized she was also standing on a stage.

"Attention all! Welcome to Carlisle's Fireworks! We're going to do his big grand finale type thing first. Because this is the first, and possibly the last time we do this." The sound of an airplane filled the clearing. Tons of fireworks were being shot into the sky from the plane, with Carlisle flying it. I really hoped it wouldn't catch on fire. As soon as I thought that, Rosalie lit up a Roman Candle, and shot it at him. It must of hit something bad, because one of the propellers came off and almost chopped up someone in the crowd. Carlisle started going in funky circles, still shooting the fireworks.

The engine shut off, and the plane rocketed to the ground. During this, he jumped out and replaced the propeller before turning back on the engine, saving the plane just seconds before hitting the ground. He pulled it around slightly, heading toward my solitary place by the woods, an evil grin on his face. He started shooting fireworks at me. I blocked each one with a fist, and they exploded into little sparks that went out quickly. One hit the tree beside me and blasted me with a giant explosion. I blocked myself from the debris and the fireblast. Suddenly all of the propellers stopped, but the engine was still on. I watched as the plane plummeted towards the ground, then crashed with an earsplitting boom.

I moved back farther into the shadow of the trees, and stared calmly at the chaos before me. People were laughing their heads off by now, and only a few seemed truly concerned as to if Carlisle was alive or a grilled vampire. I smiled slightly, knowing exactly who had caused the propellers to stop. Scorpius strikes again, I thought viciously.

But I had more pressing matters than Carlisle's welfare, actually. I stalked through the trees to the place where I knew the one I truly wanted to see would be at.

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**Okay! That's another one down! Thank you all for reading! I believe it's 5 of you now that reviewed....WE LOVE YOU! Thanks so much! **


	9. Chapter 8

*Ara POV*

I weaved my way through the dark forest, ignoring the brilliant flashes of light and booms coming from the field. Apparently Carlisle was safe, and they were now setting off the fireworks. Part of me hoped they would do the Roman Candle thing last so I could join in, but another part didn't care. That part was cold, suddenly desolate. I wanted to fix things before it permanently stayed that way. I was contemplating this when I suddenly heard someone talking.

"Ah...well..she's always been a fiery little thing. You know how women are. She was probably shocked." Poseidon's voice reached my ears, and I crept closer, then climbed up a tree to view the scene from above.

"This was different! She looked like she was terrified, not shocked! I probably disgusted her." Hades' voice was full of strain.

"You know...when I first kissed Selene-" Poseidon was cut off.

"I thought you were married to Amphitrite."

"Yes, but marriage and love are two different things at times. But that's not the point... Dionysus did the same thing to us! He made us drunk, and our true feelings came out."

"So. Do you think Hera would help me get a divorce with Persephone?"

"You're skipping around the subject, brother. Just talk to her. I'm sure she feels the same way. I must go. Have fun with your problems. Hurt her and I will kill you." With that, there was a rush of water and Poseidon disappeared. Suddenly he appeared again. "Seriously. I know gods are immortal, but I'll be sure you are dead." Then he disappeared again. Hades dropped his head into his hands.

"Oh gods, what did I do to deserve this?" He looked up, staring blankly at the river. I leaped down in front of him, causing him to jump.

"Am I that bad of a kisser?" I said saucily. "You did instigate it you know." He stared up at me bemused, and started to say something, but I threw myself into his arms before he could manage and kissed him fervently.

*Scorpius POV*

"Where did Ara go? I saw her being shot at, then _boom_," I clapped my hands together once for effect. "She was gone."

"Should we look for her?" Annabeth answered me fretfully.

"Well, she can take care of herself. But she wouldn't want to miss the Roman Candle War. Let's go look in the woods, that's where she was last."

"She's probably by the river, she likes playing with water when she gets upset. She told me it calms her." Annabeth grabbed my hand. I delighted at the touch, grasping her hand firmly, pulling it up to my lips to kiss it lightly. She smiled at me, her beautiful face lighting up. We walked together to the woods, and started searching.

We heard some noises, like someone talking, and we picked up our step. Abruptly, we were in a small clearing by the river. I instantly spotted Ara and...was that Hades? in the shadow of a tree right next to the flowing water. She was smiling, sitting in his lap, and every once in a while, she would press her lips to his, or he would to hers. We stood there, quite surprised, for several minutes.

"Should we let them know we're here?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"Sure. Let's go back farther into the woods and call her name. You come out over there." She pointed to a little break in the trees not far from Hades and Ara. I nodded, and we slid back into the cover of the trees.

*Hades POV*

I smiled down at the little beauty in my arms, then leaned down to kiss her full lips yet again. I was blissfully happy, and she seemed to be too.

"Out of all the goddesses I've known, I never would of thought I'd end up with the most gorgeous one there is." I whispered in her ear. She shivered slightly.

A glint in her eyes told me she wasn't one for the cheesy comments. "Don't let Aphrodite hear you say that." She grimaced.

I stared into her amazing eyes for a second, lost. They were such a beautiful shade, completely unique. Green, blue, grey, all mixed together with gold and black flecks. She lowered them blushed. I ran my fingers lightly down her cheek, feeling the heat. "So....the moon is beautiful tonight."

"Yes it is." She turned slightly in my arms to stare at it. I didn't look away from her face, watching her expression as she studied the pocked surface.

"There's something I should tell you." I grabbed hold of her chin and pulled her face around to look at me. "I....I-"

"ARA!"

"ARAAAAA!!"

"ARA WHERE ARE YOU?"

Voices echoed hauntingly through the forest, and we watched as Scorpius stepped out of the woods close to us. Annabeth stepped out right across from us. Ara didn't even jump, she didn't move a muscle. With both Scorpius and Annabeth to see, she turned and kissed me on the lips yet again.

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A big, special thank you to Marie Elaine Cullen for reviewing so much! We would answer you back directly, but seeing as I'm working on several other stories, and Scorpius21 doesn't know my password, we can't. haha!


	10. Chapter 9

*Ara POV*

"What in Hades' name are you doing!?" Scorpius said in shock.

"I'm right here." Hades said nonchalantly, burying his face in my hair.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! You guys are so cute!" Annabeth clasped her hands together, joy on her face.

"Careful, Annie, you're pulling an Aphrodite on us." I said, smiling.

"Oh...crud. I can fix that! I'm going to go get Silena and see what she says!" She walked off.

"So....you...and Ara?" Scorpius said. I could tell he didn't really like the idea.

"Ummm...hello? I'm sitting on his lap. I can hear you."

He glared at me. "I want to talk to Hades. Alone."

"Fine. I'll go with Annabeth." I stood up, stretching. Hades got up beside me, looking wary. I kissed him once more on the lips before dashing into the forest. I ran a little ways, then snuck back, climbing up a tree to eavesdrop yet again.

"Ara leave! I know you're in the trees!" Scorpius yelled. I sighed, then turned invisible on the branch. Scorpius waited for a minute, trying to listen for a noise that would betray me. Apparently satisfied that I was gone, he turned to glare at Hades, who had an amused look on his face.

"So...do you think things will work out between you and Ara? Tell the truth."

"Yeah, I hope so. I realize I love her alot. She's been there for me for the last 100 years."

"Good...cuz if you break her heart...I'll break your neck." Scorpius growled, leaning forward menacingly.

"Don't worry...I would never do anything to hurt her. Now I would like to go to the Roman Candle War, if you don't mind."

I jumped down beside Hades yet again, and his smiled widened, probabaly knowing that I was there the whole time. "Me too! Let's go!" With that, I grabbed his hand, ignoring Scorpius' outraged face, and we sprinted through the trees to the field. When we got to the field, Scorpius was already there, sitting by Annabeth. I walked up to Carlisle who was passing out fireworks, towing Hades along.

"Gimme some Candles!" I held out my hand. His eyes trailed over Hades' large hand wrapped around mine. I grabbed 10 of them and handed 5 to Hades. He got an evil glint in his eye, and instantly lit one up, aiming at Scorpius.

I laughed, and aimed my first one at Emmett, who was standing not too far away, blasting random people in the crowd. I hit him square in the balls, and his clothes caught on fire, but he just grinned at me and blasted one back in my direction. Seeing the half-bloods escape into the trees, everyone went into a full-out Roman Candle War.

Scorpius shot Hades on the face, and also in the balls, and Hades rolled up in the fetal position on the ground. I scowled at Scorpius while I comforted Hades, and then aimed one at Scorpius. I didn't see where it hit, but I heard a yowl so I supposed it was somewhere bad. I helped Hades up and we sat by the trees, hitting anyone that dared come close enough.

I felt a whap on the back of my head, and I realized that my hair had caught fire. I quickly put it out, and turned around to see who hit me. I felt another hit my stomach. I cussed violently, and peered up into the trees. Beckendorf was laughing, hitting me again and again with the fireworks. Hades stepped up beside me, and aimed three at once at him. They all hit him at once, but he didn't fall, only jumped away like a freaking monkey from limb to limb.

After everyone used up all their fireworks, we all loaded back up in my car, after I gave Beckendorf a good telling-off. We drove back to the Cullen's, and everyone was laughing, with soot-blackened clothes and hair. Goodbyes seemed to take forever, and I finally made it home to my temple, with Scorpius and Hades with me.

"Hey what's for dinner? I'm starved! I could eat a whole hellhound!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"With or without condiments?" Hades asked smoothly.

"Shut up."

I laughed. "Okay guys, dinner's coming right up!" I walked into the kitchen and started making dinner, which would be steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. Scorpius walked in to criticize my cooking.

"More pepper on the steaks. And you're burning them."

"I am not! I have been cooking for 5000 years and I even went to the finest culinary schools in the world, I will not be told what to do in the kitchen!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, and I learned how to make toast with some tinfoil and a rock in the sun."

"I don't care. Now get out before I put you on the menu!" I pointed a heavy wooden spoon at him threateningly.

"Oh my gods! Not the spoon! Anything but the spoon...!!!" he moaned, clutching at his face. Abruptly, I replaced the spoon with my sword, Corruo, which was Latin for 'Destroyer'. I was often called the Angel of Destruction on the battlefield. My sword was my necklace, a black choker with my symbol carved into the onyx stone, the crescent moon over the ocean's waves.

"Oh I know the name of that sword! The...TommyBahama! The CoffeeCup! The...Swingset! The PinkParty! Or...FoundThisInTheGutterAndI'mTooLazyToCleanIt!" he mocked.

I hissed. "It's name is Destroyer. You had better hope I don't add you to all the people it's slain!" He looked slightly surprised at the name.

"Oooo...that was my next guess."

"Oh, shove it, and go entertain Hades while I finish this. You had better hope I don't spit in your food now." Destroyer turned back into my necklace, and I fastened it on quickly.

"Entertain Hades? I thought that you're the one to entertain Hades." He joked, backing out the door quickly when I got my spoon back out.

I quickly finished our supper, and adding a small plate of ambrosia squares and glasses of nectar, I set the plates down on my large, black dining room table and called for them to eat. We all sat down, and the boys joked while I sat in cold silence, reverting back to my usual self. When they finished, they leaned back contentedly, sighing and placing a hand on their stomachs. I smiled to myself. They were both as slim and muscular as ever, one meal wasn't going to change that. I glanced at Scorpius' plate. He had left all of his green beans, but had arranged them into a smiley face. I sighed. What a dork.

"So, Hades, do you think Persephone will be coming back? You do realize you kind of...cheated on her...with me." I looked down, suddenly embarrassed.

"That reminds me!" He pulled out his phone, and held up a finger. He held down a button, then stood up to go outside.

Scorpius got down on his knees, and just before Hades walked out the door, he yelled, "Don't leave me alone with heeeeeerrrr!!!" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, shut up. You wanna rent a movie?" I asked, and with a swipe of my hand, all of the dishes disappeared.

"How about Gran Torino?" He suggested. I smiled, thinking of how he was alot like me, and made the movie appear beside us on the table. I grabbed it and walked into the living room, plopping on the couch. Scorpius followed, and I threw the movie at him. He caught it, giving me a glare.

"Plug it in, chick." I said, yawning. We sat in the movie's dim light for a good 30 minutes before Hades came back in.

"Good news!" He crowed, launching himself onto the couch next to me, and wrapping his arm around my waist. "I have a divorce scheduled next Wednesday, Apollo is going to be the judge!"

"That's great! Do you want me to be there for you?" I asked excitedly, completely amazed at the turn of events. He was getting a divorce for me!

"I'll always want you!" He said huskily, nuzzling my ear.

"Wooooohooooo! This calls for a happy divorce party!" Scorpius said, and jumped up, starting to call everyone.

"Wait! I'm sick of parties right now! Can't it just be the three of us, and Annabeth if she wants to come?" I spoke hurriedly, trying to get him to stop before he called anyone. He stopped, looking at me thoughtfully, then he nodded. Suddenly, his phone went off.

"Hello? Umm...okay. I'll get her. We'll be there as soon as possible." He hung up, and pulled me up with him. "Come on Ara, we have to go to camp."

Hades looked at us forlornly. "Can I come?" I grabbed his hand.

"Of course." We popped away to the camp, by the Big House. The lights were shining brightly, and we walked in the door.

"You guys all know about the reforming of Kronos, right?" Chiron said, prancing toward us.

"Yeah...what's going on? Come on, tell us! Do I get to blow someone up? Please please tell me I do!" I plead with him, bouncing around excitedly. Hades steadied me.

"Two of the Hunters, Thalia, and Grover are on a mission. Percy left with them, and I'm not sure if they will succeed in their quest. Scorpius, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Annabeth has been kidnapped." Chiron flinched, perhaps expecting some violent reaction to this news.

Scorpius paled, and sat down hard in a chair that someone had thought to push up behind him. He didn't speak at all.

*Scorpius POV*

Ara kneeled down in front of me, and she took my hands in hers. She forced me to look up at her. Her eyes were fierce, and her face was set in steely determination. "Listen little brother. Nothing will happen to Annabeth. I will get her back. It's direct interference, but I've never been one to follow the Ancient Laws anyway." Her lips twisted up in an evil grin.

"If you're on my side, I'm sure we can get her back." My smile mirrored hers.

"I'll _kill _the fools who dared take the object of my brother's affections!"

"No. I want you to blow them up." I cut across her other declarations. Her evil grin widened even more, and she straightened up. There was a flash of light, and her still-sooty clothes turned into her shiny black armor. Her hair was left loose, and her necklace disappeared, apparently turning into her sword and hanging by her side. She studied me for a second, then another flash of light blinded me, and I was suddenly in armor too.

My armor was blood-red, like my eyes, and I had a spear longer than me in my hands. The blade was black, and the handle was red like my armor. She studied me a bit longer, then seemed to nod in satisfaction.

"There. The spear is a present from me, you need a weapon. It turns into a pocketknife when you aren't using it. Magic items are ever so useful." She turned to Hades, who had also changed into armor, and stood beside him. They looked great together, black armor with black armor. Hades wore a bright red cloak as well, and his double-edged sword swung at his waist, much like Ara's.

A slow smile spread across my face. We would get my Annabeth back. And kill whoever had dared take her.

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**Sorry the last one was so short....i didn't realize it was till it was posted lol. Review please! thank you again to our favorite reviewer, Marie Elaine Cullen, for being so darned AWESOME! of course we love all of the rest of you too...but you guys don't review as much as her! lol oh yeah, and if you can't tell, this is set in the 3rd percy jackson book! **

**-Scorpius and Ara-**


	11. Chapter 10

***Ara POV***

"Where are they at?" I asked Chiron.

"Right now...they are on a train heading west. Apollo's doing, actually. Artemis has been kidnapped as well." he answered me.

Now I was ready to rage. Whoever this was dared to steal Annabeth _and _one of my best friends? _No way._

"Lady Ara, you know you can't directly interfere. It's against Ancient Law." Chiron said.

"Does she look like she cares?" Scorpius asked exasperatedly.

"I don't care. Like I said before, I've never been one to follow the rules."

"I suppose I can't stop three powerful gods from going." Chiron looked resigned. I cleared my throat, giving him a look. "Two powerful gods and a powerful goddess." He amended quickly. "But if you're all going to go, at least take this." He handed me a conch shell, and engraved into its smooth surface was a crescent moon. "Whenever you reach Annabeth and Artemis, blow this over the nearest body of water you can find."

"What does it do? And more importantly, why do we need it?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"Personally...I don't know. Your parents told me to give it to you and Scorpius. They apparently knew you'd be going on this quest."

I nodded. "Okay. We'll be off now." With that, I grabbed Hades and Scorpius' arm, and popped us onto Apollo's train. I landed hard in a black Mercedes SLK by Thalia. I shook my head, disoriented. She stared at me, apparently startled at my armor and sudden appearance.

"Oh, er....hello." I said faintly, slightly dizzy.

"Hello. What are you doing here Mom!?"

"Umm...just helping out..." I shook my head again. I heard an 'oof!' and Scorpius and Hades landed in the back of the car. Scorpius sat up quickly.

"What did you just say?" he asked, dazed.

"Oh...that's something I should explain to you. Thalia is my daughter...and Zeus is her dad."

"How is that possible?" Hades said quietly, horror-struck.

"We don't know." I said softly. Thalia was staring straight ahead, her features hard. "But I love her." I saw her smile when I said that. I hugged her across the seat.

"But I thought you hated Zeus." Scorpius said, looking thoroughly disgusted.

"I'm not the first woman he lusted over, am I? He raped me in the weakest and worst part of my life. I'd rather not go into detail. But when Thalia was born..." I studied her face, which was still turned away. "We, as in Artemis and I, couldn't figure out why she was only a half-blood. It made absolutely no sense. Yet here she is, as half-blood as ever." I gestured to her.

"How do you know she's Zeus'?" Hades asked almost angrily.

I turned to give him my full death glare, something that Thalia got from me. "Because I have never been with a mortal man in my life," I hissed, deadly venom in my voice. He looked appeased. "But like I said, Thalia was one of the best things that happened to me." I turned, talking now to her. "Did you know, when you got turned into a tree, I would come and sing to you, almost every night. And when you were sick....when I sang to you, you would get alot healthier, would be full of life."

Her eyes were filled with tears. "I heard you Mom. I remember that. It always stood out in my life." I hugged her again, holding her close. Suddenly, I heard a favorite song on the radio.

"Oooo, I love this song!" I cranked up the music, jamming out to 'New Divide' by Linkin Park. The two Hunters, Grover and Percy finally looked our way. The tension and tears broke in the little car. Zoe jumped down and went up to Hades. She glared daggers at him, and he shifted uncomfortably in her gaze. There was an uncomfortable silence that was only punctuated by Thalia and I singing to the song.

"Still mad at me, huh?" Hades asked, disgruntled.

"Yes." She said through clenched teeth.

"What did you do that I don't know about?" I asked, faintly curious.

"I sent hellhounds after the Hunters one day cuz I was bored."

"The Hunters should of loved that! Killing hellhounds."

"Not when they couldn't be killed." Hades muttered. I sighed.

"Next time you get bored, call me." I said firmly. He nodded. Zoe looked at me.

"Still chasing after men? Didn't Ares teach thy a lesson? Once Hades gets thy in bed, he'll dum-" I cut the little bitch off.

"Don't you _dare_ talk that way to me. Have you not learned exactly _who I am_? Now _get out of my sight before I blow you to smithereens_!!!" I screeched. I must of looked really scary, because she did as I said and jumped back into her car. I sat, fuming, while everyone in the car waited in tense silence for me to calm down.

Then, letting out a frustrated squeak, I made the windows and side mirrors explode on the car in front of me. Then, everything went back to normal. Hades pulled me up, and we went to go sit in an orange Porsche 911 Turbo. I hot-wired it and we listened to death metal, with me singing along to every song, trying to get all the rage out. Through the haze, I caught Percy and Scorpius' thoughts. They were texting each other, and saying something along the lines of 'NO I'm going to rescue her!' 'No me!' 'Me!'. It was quiet annoying.

"Will you two shut the hell UP!?" I bellowed randomly, clutching my head. Hades, Percy and Scorpius looked up at me, surprised.

"What do you mean? We aren't even talking!" Scorpius said defiantly.

"Your thoughts! It's like you're screaming them at me! I'll rescue Annabeth, and you two will sit back quietly and watch!"

They both started yelling at the same time, first at me, then at each other. I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself not to kill them.

"Guys! Guys! Stop it! Don't you see what it's doing to her? She'll kill all the mortals in this train if you don't stop!" Hades yelled angrily, grabbing my wrists and pulling me close to his chest. I hid my face in his armor, still trying not to kill anyone or destroy the world or something.

***Scorpius POV***

That idiotic, slimy half-blood bastard! He couldn't save Annabeth! I had to! I will save her if it's the last thing I do!

***Percy POV***

That no-good Dionysus-worshipping sleaze bag! I had to save Annabeth before him, so she will love me!

***Ara POV***

I must of fell asleep on Hades, because the next thing I knew, he was shaking me awake. We got out of the train, into this little tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Zoe, Percy, Bianca and Grover went to get us coffee and muffins while Thalia, Hades, Scorpius and I looked for a way out. While we were in the town, of course, we had changed back into our regular clothes. I was walking up the steps to the only store in town when it hit me. The premonition almost knocked me backward. Hades stopped with me, holding me up.

He put my stick of my eyeliner in my hand and steered me to a brick wall. I started drawing my premonition in quick, jerky movements, my eyes unfocused. When I finished, I stepped back and looked at the brick wall. Nothing was there. I glanced over at Hades. His lips were set in a tight line, and my drawing was on his face. Oops.

I studied it carefully. It was a very detailed picture of Artemis holding up a giant mass of blackness, which happened to be all over Hades' forehead. I reached out and touched the miniature Artemis, right on his cheek. I frowned.

"She's holding up the sky." I whispered.

"Oh, really? Cuz I can't see it." Hades said, sounding annoyed. He started scrubbing it off. I helped, and when we finished his normally pale skin was red. I half-smiled. I was really too worried to smile fully though. Suddenly, I stumbled back, another premonition was coming. He caught me around the waist before I fell, and I succumbed to the hazy feelings once more.

When it was over, I looked at his face, and realized with a small shot of humor that I had missed the brick wall again. This time the picture depicted Atlas looking over the edge of a cliff, grinning. Oh, shit. I rubbed it off his face again.

"Artemis is holding up the sky while Atlas is...loose. Somewhere. We have to get to Mount Othrys." I said, after cleaning him off.

Everyone else came back with our coffee. Scorpius handed me my chocolate french vanilla cappucino and blueberry muffin.

"Lady Artemis is holding up the sky?" Zoe asked.

"Yes. As soon as I rescue her I will be telling her about your insolence." I said sharply. She just glared at me. Thalia glared at her too, since Zoe had tried to recruit her as well.

"But how did Atlas get free of his burden?" Scorpius asked.

"Annabeth!" I said, gasping. Everyone looked at me funny. "He tricked Annabeth into holding up the sky somehow, and Artemis took it from her! Artemis would never let a young maiden suffer that way!"

Scorpius seemed frozen in shock. I took a giant swig of cappucino, a grin on my face. Taking hold of Hades' arm, I quickly linked all of us together. Then, before I could do anything, a warm, springtime breeze hit us, and the birds on our cups became real, flying off. Grover passed out. I stared around wonderingly, amazed at what I had just felt.

"The Wild! The Wild..." Grover moaned.

"Get him up! We have to go, something doesn't feel right here!" I spoke sharply. Percy and Thalia pulled Grover up, and we made it to the outskirts of town when they appeared. Skeleton warriors, dressed in New Mexico State Police uniforms. I hissed angrily. "Everyone, hold on tight!"

We popped away just as the skeleton warrior shot at us. I had never been one to run away in a fight, but with so many people to protect, it seemed to be the best thing. We landed in a desert, not too far from a junkyard. I swayed slightly, the teenisiest bit overwhelmed at popping so many people at once. What lay before us was something I recognized all too well.

"Well." I sighed, sitting on my rump. "Let's rest for tonight, there's no way I'm going through that in the dark."

"I agree. I'm tired." Scorpius yawned and stretched. I laid down on the ground, popping an air matress under me and covers over me. A silky pillow appeared under my head. I rolled over.

"Goodnight." Everyone stared at me, then at each other. Sighing again, I popped everyone else air matresses, covers and pillows. Then, I made mine much bigger and patted the space next to me. Hades crawled under the covers with me hesitantly.

"Goodnight love." He muttered, already half asleep. But his last word made my eyes open wide. Love? Well...he didn't mention that before. Oh well. I liked it. Suddenly, two bright lights rolled over our little group.

"Wazzgoinon?" Scorpius said, groaning. A shiny white limousine pulled up next to us. Before anyone could move, he had a sword tip pointed to his neck. Ares stood over him, grinning madly.

"Oi! Go away! I might be tired but I still have enough energy to kill you." I yelled. Ares moved the sword to Percy's neck.

"How's your skin? Hope I didn't leave any scars." Scorpius said smugly.

"How's your ankle?" Percy asked.

"What do you mean?" They said in unison.

"I burnt him." Scorpius looked at Percy with revulsion on his face.

"Oh yeah I hurt his ankle!" Percy glared back defiantly. They started yelling at each other, gesturing with their hands and such. Ares grabbed them both by the ear and threw them in the limo.

"Thank you!" I said fervently. "I'm getting so sick of that."

He grinned evilly. "Getting some tonight, Ara? You'll come crawling back to me when that old man can't give you what you want."

"Dammit Ares! Always ruining the good moments! Get out of my sight before I blow up you and your pretty limo! I'm guessing Aprhodite is in there as well? Better tell her to get out." I yelled at the sky. Damned, annoying bastard.

*Scorpius POV*

I landed face-first into the cushioned leather seats. I got up, groaning. I looked across the seat, at a woman who was smiling happily first at me, then Percy. She was beautiful, her face seemed to change every second into girls I'd had crushes on, and Annabeth. It was like she was my definition of beauty, no matter what it was.

"Hello darlings!" She said excitedly. "I just love it when guys fight over a girl! It's so sweet!"

"I love Annabeth. He doesn't deserve her." I growled, jerking my thumb at Percy. He glowered at me, and started to say something, but Aprhodite held up her hand.

"You both love her quite alot. I would say Scorpius loves her more though. Your entire quest is about her, is it not? You don't care what else happens, as long as you have her? Awww...that's so sweet! Keep fighting you two...now send me in Ara and Hades!" she wiped a tear from her eye. I was abruptly pushed out of the limo, and Ares dragged Ara in after me, Hades following with a scowl on his face. I sat down on my air matress hard. After about five minutes, Ara came back out, black fury on her face. She glared at something far away in the desert, and I heard a giant boom. Whatever it was, it was now blown up.

She stalked back to her air mattress, cussing and swearing, saying things I'd never heard before, in many different languages. She kicked it, and it flew six feet backwards, hitting the fence of the junkyard. Hades then got out, a thoughtful expression on his face. He walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her, almost absentmindedly. I wondered vaguely what Aprhodite had told them before slipping into the dark, sweet bliss of sleep.

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**Oooooh that one was uber long! I couldn't stop! It would of went farther, but Scorpius was like....well isn't that long enough? lol. The events are kind of rushed, yeah, but I want to get to the good parts! So sorry if it's kind of screwy. Review! thanks!**


	12. Chapter 11

***Ara POV***

I woke up first in the morning, because I was getting hot. I tried to roll over, like I would normally do in my king-sized bed at home, but I landed hard on my ass in sand instead. Muttering angrily, I crawled my way back into the bed, and shook Hades awake.

"Hey you two...can't you wait to do that till you get home?" Scorpius mumbled groggily. I shot up, incensed.

"What!? I'm just trying to wake him up!" I cried out.

"Like that? Wow...I'm speechless. You really are perverted." he said before turning over. I glared at his back, and made his mattress flip over on him, using the sand underneath it. He got up, glaring back. "I wasn't done sleeping."

"I don't care. Get up, and help me get everyone else up. We have to get through that damn junkyard." Hades sat up, blinking blearily. We roused everyone else, and after a quick breakfast of Pop-Tarts and orange juice, we walked into the junkyard.

"Nobody touch anything. This is the god's trash bin. Anything here is deformed or defective." Zoe said quietly.

"Oh yeah...I threw some stuff in here. I wonder where they're at..." I wandered off into the giant piles of rubbish, Hades following me.

"Look, a Hades figurine!" Grover called, holding up a statue of the dark god.

Hades studied it curiously. "Looks nothing like me." Bianca got wide-eyed, and she walked over to inspect it in Grover's hand.

"It's a Mythomagic game piece...this is the only one Nico doesn't have." She said quietly, sadly.

"Well, that makes me feel loved."

"It's okay Hades, I love you!" I said, hugging him. Scorpius rolled his eyes, and Grover dropped the figurine. We moved on. Finally, we came to the end of the yard. There were giant metal toes; I knew exactly what it was. "Talos."

"Let's go around. Far, far, around." Thalia whispered. I nodded, and we started around it. I hopped past the fence, glad to finally be out of the stupid yard. Suddenly, with a great, metal groaning, Talos was up. He was absolutely monstrous, but smaller than the real thing.

"Who took something!?" Zoe yelled, glaring accusingly at Percy.

"It was Percy!" Scorpius pointed at him.

"Who cares? It's time to fight!" I yelled, drawing my sword. Talos roared, and brandished his sword at us. I darted toward him, running in zigzags, keeping the giant confused while Bianca and Zoe shot arrows at him. Scorpius, Percy, and Hades also ran forward, trying to keep up with me. I slashed wildly at the giant's feet, making him dance, running faster than the eye could see. Scorpius followed my example, and Percy and Hades backed up, wide-eyed at our fearsome show. I hopped onto one of the metal toes, and cut at Talos' ankle, he bellowed in anger.

"Scorpius! To me!" I yelled, my battle-attitude coming up. He ran over and jumped onto the toe with me, and I stuck my sword into Talos' ankle to the hilt, as high as I could reach. Scorpius boosted me up, and I climbed precariously onto my trusty sword, balancing on one foot. "Go! Run!" I screamed, then climbed slowly up his leg, making my way to his waist, and up over his stomach.

I made it to his head finally, and I latched myself to his face. He bellowed again, and I winced; the sound was unbelievably loud. The monster tried to swipe me off his face. I looked down at everyone, and watched as Scorpius ran towards the feet. Suddenly, he disappeared. I screamed, still trying to dodge large metal hands. One stopped not five feet from my face, and then it was moving in funny circles, doing some kind of weird dance. Talos suddenly started squirting out oil onto Percy. I held on for dear life as it danced around erratically. Scorpius must be keeping it from squashing me and having it pee on Percy at the same time.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight, and electricity crackled up and down my body, heavy lightning forming in the sky. It shot down with fearsome intensity, right down into my charged body. I let loose a shrill scream, throwing my head back as the bolt lit up my world with a blinding whiteness. I fell over backwards as the monster did too. I twisted in the air, and made the earth rise up and catch me before I hit the ground. I crashed into the sand, but it felt very soft, and it swallowed me up. I came back up quickly and hit the ground running towards the fallen, smoking Talos.

"Scorpius! Scorpius!" I screamed, my voice was getting rough from all of the yelling. Heading towards the head, I started twisting the metal in my hands, digging through it to find my little brother. Everyone else came to help me, Grover was chomping the metal faster than I'd ever seen him. Finally, I saw him. He was caught in an eye socket, wrapped up by electric wires, and it looked like he was being tasered every five seconds. He winced as I pulled him from the wreckage. I gasped for breath, hugging him close to me.

"Feels like Ze-" He shuddered again, electricity running through him. "Owwww.... it feels like Zeus just attacked me."

"No, it was me." I made a bottle of water appear beside me, then opened it and pulled the water out, letting it swirl around my hands. I pressed them to his chest like I did the first day I met him, and healed his injuries. "As soon as you become more advanced in fire techniques, you can control lightning too." Slowly, he stopped getting fried. We got up, and kept moving.

"Hey Mom! Why can't you just pop us there?" Thalia asked, breathing heavily.

"Because! This is you guys' quest, I can't get you from place to place all the time! We get to another destination point, and I'll pop us the rest of the way." She sighed heavily again, but kept walking. Finally, I groaned and popped a truck beside us. Everyone stopped, sighing in relief. I climbed in the back, with Hades, Zoe, Bianca, and Thalia. Scorpius hopped behind the wheel, Grover and Percy sitting in the front with him. We drove for a while, enjoying the air in our face. We made it to a giant ravine, now that we were out of the desert, and we stole some canoes from a boat rental. We set off down the river, with the help from some naiads. Zoe and I shared a dislike for them. Then we came across the Hoover dam. Oh, great.

"How about now Mom?" Thalia asked wearily.

"Now is good." I made everyone link up, and this time with the help of Hades, popped us to the next destination. We landed on a beach. Finally, we were at the West Coast.

"Now what?" Percy asked irritably.

"Nereus." said Grover.

"What?"

"Oh, not him!" I cried out, huffing angrily.

"That's what Apollo told you. Find Nereus." Grover repeated.

"Okay, Scorpius, come with me. The rest of you...go blend in somewhere." I shooed them off, keeping Scorpius at my side.

"So who's Nereus?" he asked interestedly.

"He'll answer one question if you can catch him. But don't worry about that, he owes me." We walked slowly along the beach. Coming upon many homeless vagrants who watched us carefully, I inspected each from a distance, then moved on. We came upon a very old man, who had always reminded me of Santa Claus, with a dirty tangled beard and ratty clothes. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally."

Nereus cracked an eye at us. He groaned when he saw me. "Ohhhh...not you again..."

"Shove it you crackpot." I said sharply. He winced when he heard my voice.

"So you have to catch me, I'm jumping in the ocean nowww...." He mumbled, before shooting up like a bullet, headed for the waves.

"Scorpius, if you will." I nodded at him. He seemed to understand, and used his motion powers to stop Nereus in his tracks. Scorpius pushed his hand out, then brang it back in, forcing Nereus to come back to him.

Scorpius grabbed Nereus' beard. "Okay, I caught you. Now for my question..." He deliberated for a second. "Tell me where this terrible monster that could bring down the gods is."

Nereus grinned. "Oh, that one's too easy! He's right there." He pointed at the waves, then turned into a goldfish and disappeared.

Scorpius started cussing like a sailor again.

"Okay, so I know we were born of the sea and everything, but we're not sailors, so stop." I walked over to the crashing waves and then into them as casually as if I was walking into another room. He followed after me. Once completely submerged, we surveyed the surrounding water.

"MOOOOOO." Came a bubbly moo from beside us. I nearly jumped at the sight of the Ophiotaurus next to me.

"Oh my gosh.... that's what the monster is!" I exclaimed, putting my hand to my mouth.

"Aaaawwww! But it's so cute! We can't kill it, please please!" Scorpius cried, wrapping his arms around the cow's neck.

"Bessie!" Percy called; he was walking down the sandy slope to us, looking completely dry.

"Bessie?" I asked skeptically.

"I named her." He said defensively, petting the cow/thing.

"It's a he." I said, reading the thing's mind. He mooed happily. "Come on, let's go have Grover translate for us so I don't have to be in his head constantly." We walked back to the shore with the Ophiotaurus following along. Hades and Thalia ran over to us instantly, with everyone else lagging behind. I told the story of the prophecy while everyone petted Bessie.

"The power to overthrow Olympus...that's huge." Thalia muttered.

"Yes it is my dear...and it is a power _you _will unleash." A voice with a heavy French accent sounded behind us. The Ophiotaurus made a funny noise and disappeared under the water. We all turned to look at our ambushers. The manticore, with four human guards, stood on the deck behind us, looking smug. "Your father abandoned you. He doesn't love you. Turn on Olympus, join us. Think of all the power you will have..."

Thalia had a dazed look on her face. I grabbed her arms, shaking her. "_I _love you Thalia. You will always have _me_."

Percy looked signifigantly at Grover, and he played a jaunty tune, causing branches to appear on the dock, tangling the legs of the human mercenaries. Everyone ran past them but Scorpius, Hades and I. I took off my necklace, it elongated into my sword. The manticore screamed in fury. He threw three large spikes at me at blinding speed, but Hades was suddenly in front of me, with his shield. Scorpius let out a war cry and stabbed the manticore with his spear from the side while it was distracted with us. It let out a terrifying scream and disappeared in a puff of smoke. I hugged Hades as Scorpius dusted the tip of his spear off.

"Oh...we have to go...now! Now!" I pushed Scorpius, and we ran to where everyone else was waiting with wide eyes. "Zoe. You have to take us to the mountain." She nodded grimly, and we set off on the next and final part of our journey.

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**Thank you for being so patient for this! It's entirely too hard to write so many stories at once! I'm writing seven different stories at the moment, and Scorpius is writing like two. That plus homework is getting to be a bit much. Sorry for the long wait! We're working on chapter 12 right now! thank you again! :]]**


	13. Chapter 12

*Ara POV*

We decided that it would be best if Grover and Bianca went back to Long Island Sound with the Ophiotaurus. I had a feeling that Bianca was too young and inexperienced for what was to come. Percy prayed to our father for safe sea passage, then threw his Nemean lion's coat in the sea for a sacrifice. They sunk under the water, Bianca with a surly expression on her face. I 'borrowed' a car for us this time, and Zoe drove, trying to rush through traffic. The car wound through narrow roads up the mountain side.

I felt an electric charge in the air. "STOP THE CAR!" Thalia screamed, then pushed me and Scorpius out, who was followed by Hades and Percy. A bolt of lightning hit the car, frying it. Chunks of it flung over the edge. "Curse him! He would destroy me? _Me?_" She said angrily, helping me stand.

"You're getting it for that one! I swear, I'll have your head for this!" I bellowed angrily at the sky. Thalia glared as well. Zoe appeared at our sides, quieting us. We crept up the mountain slowly, trying not to wake Ladon. The Hesperids tried to stop and talk to us, but I cussed them out, making them disappear into offended wisps of shadow.

"Ladon! Wake!" Zoe cried. I looked at her like she was insane. "Go! Run up the side of the mountain, I will distract him!" We were halfway in the clear when the dragon changed his mind. He lunged at Zoe, who rolled, barely missing his slashing fangs. Thalia let Aegis come out, and Ladon hissed at it. In his moment of distraction, Zoe sprinted past us up the mountainside. We followed quickly after.

I turned to Hades, who was breathing heavily, clutching his side. "Go. Go back to the Underworld. I will come back to you when it's over."

"Never." He growled, obviously in pain. Being so high up on the mountain, in what was so close to Zeus' territory, was hurting him. Badly.

"You must." I hissed, trying to help hold him up. He was even paler than normal, and he was having trouble breathing. He stared into my eyes for a second, then pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Don't you dare get hurt." He muttered, seeming really angry with himself. "I am so weak."

"No you are not! Please, just go. I can't stand seeing you hurt." I whispered, stroking his back.

"How do you think I feel when you're hurt?"

I smirked evilly. "Who says I'm going to get hurt?" He groaned, then disappeared with a small 'pop'. I turned back to the others. "Let's do this." We crept over the crest of the mountaintop, and was frozen in shock. Mount Othrys was partially standing. And Artemis was holding up the sky, a perfect image of my vision. Zoe ran toward her, crying.

"Stop! No, you must leave!" Artemis cried out, her voice strained from holding the sky. I'd never seen her so weak before.

"My lady!" Zoe said weakly.

"Oh, how touching..." A deep voice said. I turned to glare at the voice I knew. Atlas, AKA the General, stood in his fancy brown suit, smoking a cigar. Luke was beside him, holding a gagged and tied Annabeth. I growled. "Oh, and you're here too, Ara? How nice it is to see you again. You're positive you don't want to go on that date...?"

"No, you slimy bastard. Let Annabeth and Artemis go, and go back to your day job. Being a badass doesn't suit you. Or I will blow you up." I hissed angrily, leaning forward. My black armor appeared on my body.

He laughed loudly. "Still the fiery little vixen, aren't you?" I sprinted to Artemis, rolling underneath the sky, then straightening slightly to hold it. She gasped in relief as the weight was taken from her shoulders. I held it up with more strength, gritting my teeth against the awesome force. Everyone charged. Scorpius went straight into fighting Atlas, his eyes blazing with hatred, his spear flashing in the firelight. Thalia fought Luke, it was a very even fight. Percy fought anyone who would come near him. Artemis joined the fight with Scorpius, and the two gods' powers slowly bit down on the Titan. I went into Artemis' mind, reading her instructions there. I nodded slightly, my vision fuzzy. She fell over, and Atlas tried to stab her. His javelin hit the ground beside her and she grabbed it, using it as a lever. She flung him backwards, towards me. I loosened my hold on the sky as he fell beside me. I rolled out of the way, towards the rest of the fights. I lay on the ground, twitching, feeling my out-of-control power blast around me in erratic spurts. Scorpius started to run toward me but Artemis stopped him, knowing exactly what was happening.

In my dazed state of pain, I didn't hear Luke's anguished scream as he fell over the edge, nor did I feel the rumbling of the earth beneath me as my power went haywire. Slowly, it calmed, and someone picked me up in their arms and carried me to Artemis' silver sleigh. We landed a Crissy Field just as night fell. I struggled up, and limped over to where she was kneeling by Zoe, with Scorpius' help.

"My lady, I cannot see the stars..." Zoe muttered, her eyes unfocused. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one." Artemis whispered, holding her hand.

"Have...have I served thee well?"

"With great honor...the finest of my attendants." Zoe smiled at that. Thalia gripped Zoe's other hand.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry too. We could of been sisters." Zoe answered, still smiling. Then she drew in a long breath. "I can see the stars again my lady..."

"Yes, they are beautiful tonight." Tear drops fell from all of our faces, little glittering diamonds in the moonlight.

"Stars..." she whispered once more, and she did not move again. Artemis did an ancient ritual, and put Zoe in the sky, as a constellation. I looked around at my loved ones, so happy they were okay, but so sad at the loss of life, even if that particular life wasn't a favorite. Scorpius had his arms around Annabeth, who was looking content, even through her tears. Percy and Thalia had their heads bent, talking quietly. Artemis looked at me, ancient grief and sorrow reflected in her silver eyes.

"Let the world honor you my Huntress. Live forever in the stars." She said, looking back up at the constellation. She glanced back at me. "We must go back to Olmypus at once." I nodded, and was helped to my feet by her. I grabbed Scorpius' arm, and we said goodbye to everyone, telling them that we would send help to get them to Olympus. Artemis popped us into the throne room. Voices attacked us from all around. I winced, sitting on my throne carefully.

"SHUT UP!" Scorpius bellowed angrily. The voices stopped for a minute, then started back up again. He clenched his fist, and everyone's jaws were suddenly held shut by his powers. "Ah, much better."

"Damn...Scorpius, can you please find out what they're all yelling about while I go get Hades?" I asked quietly, making sure no one else could hear.

"Sure no prob, sis." I popped away. Just as I left, he was letting Athena explain to him the Council's problems. I appeared in the shadowy, dark throne room of the Underworld. Hades saw me and instantly jumped up, rage outlining his face.

"I thought you said you wouldn't get hurt!" He said angrily, taking hold of my chin and studying my face like there was something wrong with it.

"I lied." I stated simply, grinning. "Come on, you can yell at me later. Right now, I want you to come with me."

"Where?" He half-whined.

"Olympus."

"It's not the summer solstice."

I gave him a look. "Do you think I care?" He smiled at that, then we popped back to the throne room. Things seemed to have calmed down, but as soon as Zeus saw Hades, he started bellowing again. Thunder rumbled ominously. I drug Hades defiantly over to my throne, and made him sit in it, standing in front of him. He grabbed my waist and pulled me onto his lap. Demeter glared at us both, but seemed to be happy that Persephone wasn't with him anymore. Remembering Scorpius, I stood and walked over between Poseidon and Hesphaestus' seats. I pushed them apart, then made a crude marble stone throne between them. I gestured grandly to it, and he sat, smiling.

"Hades! What do you think you're doing here? You are only allowed on the summer solstice!" Zeus raged, red in the face.

"I invited him here. And since this room is partially mine, he's allowed." I said coldly, glaring at the thunder god. "You. _You..._" He shrank back a little at my evil death glare. Then, I started raging myself. "How _dare _you try to kill my daughter! I can't believe you! I should just kill you now! You stupid, sick, idiotic-" I continued my rant until Hades stopped me.

"Um, Ara...we've got company." he pointed to the door. Thalia, Percy, Annabeth and Grover stood in the doorway. Thalia had a look of pure joy on her face at my little show. Glancing around, it seemed most of the gods and goddesses were enjoying it as well.

"I didn't try to kill her. Kronos did that." Zeus said stubbornly. I huffed, then went to sit on Hades again. The four walked slowly into the room, mainly watching their respective parents.

"I think they did alllll right!" Apollo said, beaming at them.

"All in favor of not disintegrating them?" Hermes asked. I raised my hand, as did Aprhodite, Demeter, and Hera. Hades did as well when I poked him in the side.

"Wait a minute! They aren't all that great, they had those two's help!" Ares said, pointing his finger at me, then Scorpius. "Besides, those two are dangerous." His finger then pointed at Thalia and Percy. I glared hard at it, and in a second, it exploded, showering everyone beside him with blood and bone. I giggled as he howled in agony, clutching it to his chest. Percy and Scorpius looked at me, wide eyed.

Athena ignored the little explosion. "There is a security risk with them." I glared at her too. She might be my best friend, but there's no way I'd let her kill my daughter.

"They are worthy heroes! And they shall not be killed today!" I said.

"I will not have them punished. I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it!" Artemis said heatedly.

"Calm down, sis. Jeez, you need to lighten up." Apollo said. I thought it was very funny that he acted so much like Scorpius did to me.

"Don't call me _sis_! I will reward them!"

"Well....are we all agreed that we must kill the monster?" Zeus grumbled. Several people nodded, but I grabbed Hades' chin, just to make sure he didn't. He frowned down at me. I shook my head once. He sighed.

"No!" Percy said. "You can't kill Bessie!"

"You named it Bessie?" Poseidon asked quizzically.

"Dad, he's just a sea creature. A very nice sea creature. You can't just kill him! He's innocent!"

"But what of the risk? Kronos knows that if you sacrifice the animal, you would have the power to destroy us. Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, turn sixteen tomorrow." Zeus nodded at Thalia.

"_I _have the power to destroy you all! But does it matter? You have to trust them." I said forcefully, trying to look intimidating while sitting on a much bigger person's lap. Zeus considered me.

"She is right." Artemis said, looking back at Zeus. "Which is why I must first make a reward. My faithful companion, Zoe Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. May I speak with you and Ara privately, Father?" He nodded, and I jumped down lithely to hear what Artemis whispered. I backed away when she was done, smiling sadly. "Thalia, Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

She stood straight and proud. "I will." Then she took the pledge to Artemis. I hugged her when she finished, and she went to hug Percy. We had a quick vote on whether to kill the Ophiotaurus or not, then I built an aquarium, with Poseidon's help. Bessie swam around happily. I changed quickly, hearing Zeus' decree.

"Let the triumph celebration begin!"

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**Thank you all for being so patient with us! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease review! oh, and Hi! Marie Elaine Cullen! :) **


	14. Chapter 13

*Ara POV*

Ah, how I loved parties! Especially parties where people begged my brother and I to sing. I changed into low-riding black jeans and a skin tight black halter top. Thin silver chains hung around my waist, and my ever-present black converse were on. I pulled Hades and Scorpius over to the stage, and kicked out the Muses for a few.

"Okay guys, what do we want to sing? I vote Scorpius does a solo!" I chirped, dragging him to his drumset that I'd already set up.

His eyes widened. "Nononononooonoo..." He backed up some. I turned around and raised my hands up, everyone started chanting his name. "Okay...I'll sing Modern Day Cowboy by Tesla!" People screamed, cheering. Hades picked up his bass, and I started in on my guitar.

Stormy night under jet black skies  
Billy pulls into town.  
Thunder rolled and the lightnin bolts  
come crashin to the ground  
Cold as ice, hard as stone  
as he walks into the room, with  
another man who was feelin the same way  
All hell breakin loose

Bang Bang, shoot'em up  
Bang Bang, blow you away

It's a showdown, in a no man's land  
for the cowboy of the modern day.  
Come on, sundown, don't be hangin 'round,  
cause the cowboy will blow you away

Al Capone and A Bad Boy Jones  
on the wrong side of the law.  
Johnny D and his company,  
always fisrt to the draw.  
Gangster lean, feelin so mean,  
tryin to take more than their share.  
Cause all they saw was ruling it all.  
The seed of blood was in the air.

Bang Bang, shoot'em up.  
Bang Bang, blow you away.

It's a showdown, in a no man's land  
for a cowboy of the modern day.  
Come on, sundown, don't be hangin round,  
cause the cowboy will blow you away. yeah.

Solo

Here we are and we've come this far,  
but it's only getting worse.  
The foreign lands with their terrorist demands,  
only cause the good to hurt.

The U S A the U S S R., with their six guns to their sides.  
I see the message written on the wall,  
Too much anger deep inside.

Bang Bang, Shoot'em up  
Bang Bang, Blow you away.

It's a showdown, in a no man's land  
for the cowboy of the modern day.  
Come on, sundown, dont be hangin round,  
cause the cowboy will blow you away

repeat

It's a showdown

Scorpius let out a random drum solo, a perfect ending to the song. The crowd went wild. I laughed, music always made me feel so elated. His voice was so good! It must run in the family. Next was Hades' solo. He looked really nervous.

"You can do it!" I whispered to him. "What do you want to do?"

"Snuff." He answered, taking his place up front. I grinned, happy I got him to like Slipknot.

Bury all your secrets in my skin  
Come away with innocence, and leave me with my sins  
The air around me still feels like a cage  
And love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage again

So if you love me, let me go. And run away before I know.  
My heart is just too dark to care. I cant destroy what isnt there.  
Deliver me into my Fate - If Im alone I cannot hate  
I dont deserve to have you  
My smile was taken long ago / If I can change I hope I never know

I still press your letters to my lips  
And cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss  
I couldnt face a life without your light  
But all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fight

So save your breath, I will not hear. I think I made it very clear.  
You couldnt hate enough to love. Is that supposed to be enough?  
I only wish you werent my friend. Then I could hurt you in the end.  
I never claimed to be a Saint  
My own was banished long ago / It took the Death of Hope to let you go

So break yourself against my stones  
And spit your pity in my soul  
You never needed any help  
You sold me out to save yourself  
And I wont listen to your shame  
You ran away - Youre all the same  
Angels lie to keep control  
My love was punished long ago  
If you still care, dont ever let me know  
If you still care, dont ever let me know

People screamed some more, and Hades looked pleasantly surprised at the reaction he got. I smiled happily. Now it's my turn.

"I want to do All Around Me!" I winked at him when I said this. He didn't know the song, but I was singing for him.

My hands are searching for you  
My arms are outstretched towards you  
I feel you on my fingertips  
My tongue dances behind my lips for you

This fire rising through my being  
Burning I'm not used to seeing you

I'm alive, I'm alive

I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healing

My hands float up above me  
And you whisper you love me  
And I begin to fade  
Into our secret place

The music makes me sway  
The angels singing say we are alone with you  
I am alone and they are too with you

I'm alive, I'm alive

I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healing

And so I cry  
The light is white  
And I see you

I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive

I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healing

Take my hand  
I give it to you  
Now you own me  
All I am  
You said you would never leave me  
I believe you  
I believe

I can feel you all around me  
Thickening the air I'm breathing  
Holding on to what I'm feeling  
Savoring this heart that's healed

I threw my head back, letting my voice loose. Yet again, we finished out to tumultuos applause. I heard Zeus booing faintly near the back, then a sharp smack as he was hit in the back of the head. We let the Muses take over again, and went to mingle.

"You know, I think we should invite the Cullens!" I said cheerily. A loud chorus of 'No' greeted me. I frowned. "I'm inviting them anyway." In the next second, they were beside me, startled expressions on their faces. "Hi guys! Welcome to the party!"

"WHOOOOO PARTY!!!!!!!!!" Carlisle yelled, then started dancing in weird, twitchy movements. I looked questioningly at Esme, who just shrugged.

"Okaaaayyy...." I trailed off, then went to dance with Hades. He was dressed in his regular black shirt and jeans. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Scorpius and Annabeth danced slowly, much slower than the song. Carlisle was still dancing in freaky movements, and people were staying a good five feet away from him.

"So....we got through everything...and when can I yell at you?" Hades asked me quietly as we swayed to the beat.

"Um. Never." I smiled innocently.

"Let's start with...I don't know. I just want to yell at you. What were you thinking, holding up the sky!? You could of been seriously inj-" I cut off his rant with my lips. I could feel him smile into the kiss. "Can we talk for a few?" He said seriously as he pulled me out the doors into the quiet hall.

"What about?"

"Will...okay, I know this has got to be really hard for you, but can you tell me what happened? You know....when..." he trailed off, looking sheepish. I shuddered, knowing exactly what he was asking about, and not wanting to remember the memory. But he deserved to know.

"Let's go somewhere more private." We walked down the hall and went into Hera's garden, it was a replica of the one on Mount Tam. I sat down carefully at the base of one of the trees, pulling him down to sit with me. I wrapped my arms around him, resting my chin on his shoulder. "So, that night..." I slipped into the memory in my head, reluctantly re-living it.

_I sat in my temple, playing my piano and making up a song. Candles were everywhere, all lit, setting a beautiful, enchanting, and bewitching scene. I was so absorbed in the music, I didn't notice the large black shadow on the wall beside me. I ran my fingers over the keys, letting the notes blend perfectly with my voice. All of a sudden, I was grabbed from behind, and something was strapped onto my wrist. I instantly tried to blow up whoever was behind me, but Zeus' deep, husky laugh rumbled in my ear._

_"Oh, no, I don't think so, kitten. Or should I say tigress." He laughed again as I struggled and screamed, trying to burn him, hurt him, kill him in any way or form possible. With a shock of horror, I realized my powers were completely nullified. "This bracelet won't hold out for long. I need to get you to a safe place." He grunted slightly as he swung me to his chest. I screamed out again, but he backhanded me across the face, so hard that Ichor flowed from my now busted lip. A rag wrapped itself tightly around my mouth, choking off my garbled screams. He popped us to a forest, right by a pretty bubbling brook. Moonlight filtered down through the trees, and I tried to get strength from it. It didn't work. _

_Zeus laid me under a tree, then kicked me in the side. I curled up in agony as I felt several ribs break. "Hm...I don't really want you when you're all bruised and bloody. But, it has to be done, darling. You're at your weakest right now. I have to make you weaker." He kicked me again, this time in the stomach. My eyes teared up at the pain. But I had endured worse, and I could endure this. He jerked me up by the hair, slamming me against the tree. It was a beautiful tree, a pine. Its bitter, fresh smelling needles rained on us. "What's your weak point, my pet?" I tasted the blood that was being caught by the rag in my mouth. It would smother me if this kept on. As if knowing what I was thinking, he ripped it off, throwing it on the ground. _

_"I don't have one you sick bastard." I spat; golden blood rained on his shoes. He looked down at them in disgust, then backhanded me again. I turned my head away from him, not wanting to look. _

_"You might be right. But that bracelet should keep you powerless for a few hours at least. I should get started before my time is up." He leaned forward, his hot breath right on my bloodied cheek. With a snap of his fingers, it was healed. He kissed my cheek, his lips rough on my skin, which was still tender. He grabbed my wrists, and pinned my hands above my head. I held my head high, letting no emotion betray me as he unclothed us both and ravaged my mind, body and soul. _

_It was daybreak before he finished. I could feel my powers slowly coming back to me, yet I was so weak from the numerous beatings Zeus had ministered when I said something sarcastic or smart alleck. "You'd better run, because I swear, I'm going to hunt you down. You will feel my coming wrath and it will echo for all of eternity." I muttered, trying not to fall over as he finally let me go. He dressed slowly, taking his time. I slipped lower down the tree, hissing in pain. He disappeared in a blinding flash of light. The bracelet dissolved as soon as he was gone, but the mind-numbing pain was too much to bear. I succumbed to the blackness surrounding me in my head._

Hades was unnaturally quiet and still when I finished my tale. I rubbed his shoulders, turning his head to me. His black eyes were cold and cruel. He stood suddenly, pulling me up with him. A nasty scowl twisted his handsome face, and he stalked to the edge of the garden. Power swirled all around him, and he truly looked terrifying, more like the god of the dead should look like. "I. Should. Kill. Him." He growled, looking menacing even to me. "NO, I'm _going_ to go kill him!" Before I could stop him, he was gone.

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**I hope that explains things! You are so weird, Marie! (Can I call you that?) You read my mind! I was totally planning to explain that in this chapter when you asked! Oh, wow, I don't mean weird in a bad way. You're cool weird! lol **


	15. Chapter 14

**Oh by the way, if you like rock, and you didn't know those songs...you should totally look them up! Okay, on with the story!**

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*Ara POV*

I hurried after a very enraged Hades, trying to grab his arm and make him stop to listen to me. "Hades! No, Hades stop! STOP!" The ground rumbled, and I was glad we were too high up in the air for Hades to bring out any skeleton warriors or something. "Hades I already took care of it!"

He didn't listen, grumbling angrily something like- "Dare touch _my _girl that way. He's gone too far. She is _mine_!"

I threw myself in front of him. "STOP!" He did this time, glaring angrily down at me. It was like he was looking through me.

"Move, Alaria, let me take care of this." He glowered at a spot on the floor near my foot.

"You don't get it! I already did! Calm down..." I whispered, stroking his hand. He exhaled gustily, obviously trying to get his temper in check. "You wanna hear what I did to him?" I said teasingly, hoping to further calm him. "I caught him, and took him to the center of the hall, right over there." I nodded to a spot in the center of the antechamber. "I tied him up, and stripped him down right for everyone to see. Then I gelded him. By blowing it up. Then I healed it, and blew it up again. I did it so many times, I lost track. When my father heard the noise, he came to see what was happening, and then he took his turn exacting revenge on Zeus. When dad finished, and everyone else who wanted a turn finished, we left him hanging up, after I'd blown it up one last time, and didn't heal it. He hung there for three days, and every time I went by him, I would say something or warn him. When someone finally cut him down, I sent him baskets of dresses and jewelry, telling him he'd have to have new clothing to fit the new him. He hasn't dared even talk to me the wrong way since." I turned smug at the end, trying not to laugh at the spectacle. Hades stared down at me, new respect in his eyes.

"You did that?"

"I'm the most powerful goddess. You know the bracelet he used? It was the one you, dad, and Zeus made. The one that could contain any Titan, god or goddess for a limited time, depending on their strength. The one that could only be used once and only for a great emergency."

"Now I'm definitely going to kill him." He started off toward the hall again, throwing the door open.

"Hades! Don't make me punish you too!" I called out. He stopped, then turned to look at me, an evil glint in his eye.

"What kind of....punishment are we talking about?" He said sexily, stalking back towards me. I smiled, glad I'd distracted him.

I put my finger to my lips and pretended to think. "Ummm.....a verrrrrry bad punishment." He took three big strides and had me back in his arms.

"How bad is bad? Where would I be chained up?"

"Hmmm... let me think....how about in my bedroom?" I smirked, watching as his breathing quickened and his eyes simmer with passion. "But right now, we really should get back to the party. People will be missing us." I drug him back to the banquet hall. As soon as I walked in, I heard Dragula by Rob Zombie start playing. I wondered vaguely what Hades was listening to as we walked to a quiet table in the corner. I watched in amusement as Carlisle finally stopped with his dancing, to go sit with Esme, who rolled her eyes at him. Rosalie and Emmett were gone, probably off to do something that I didn't want to know about. Alice and Jasper where slow dancing, lost in each other's presence. And Bella and Edward sat in the dark corner across from us, talking seriously.

Our table jumped as Scorpius ran into it. He gave me a silly grin, his eyes glazed. "Flutterbye!" He hugged me drunkenly, then was off, spinning and twirling like a fairy princess.

"Do you think he's drunk?" Hades asked sarcastically.

"I think Dionysus spiked the punch. Again." I sighed, I was really getting tired of his childish antics.

"You know what I think we should do?" Hades asked me, leaning towards me.

"What? I can only imagine." I smiled. He opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Athena's cry of joy.

"Oh my gosh Ara!" She stumbled to a chair beside me. "You're so colorful tonight! You're always in black, dearest. Try to stay away from the evil colors!" She laughed so evilly I was kind of afraid of her. I leaned back, away from her disgusting breath.

"I'm still in black. You're just drunk." I looked around as she chattered randomly in my ear, wanting to see who all had gotten drunk. Apollo sat near the Muses, picking his teeth with an arrow and trying to conduct with the other hand. Scorpius was starting a conga line, his hands on Annabeth's waist; they were creeping ever lower on her sides. She just smiled nervously, and stepped away from his grasp. It seemed like Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth had all kept wisely away from the punch. Scorpius stared at her, and his hands went to her lower back, inching down to her bottom. She slapped his hands away this time, annoyed. He sighed gustily, and she flinched, trying to get the stench away. She came over to sit by me, on the other side. Athena thankfully got up and went to bother someone else.

"Annabeth, I love your mother to death, but she is _so _annoying when she's drunk."

"Yeah, someone spiked the punch."

"Dionysus."

She nodded knowingly, her eyes on Scorpius. He was tugging at Percy's hair, who turned and gave him a weird look. Scorpius suddenly looked angry, and he punched Percy in the face, then moved on to play with Thalia's hair. She caught me watching, and gave me a pleading look. I sighed, standing.

"I'm going to go lock Scorpius up somewhere." I moved nimbly through the crowd, ignoring all of the greetings I got. Once I stood by him, I grabbed him by the arm and proceeded to tow him through the crowd to the hallway.

"Own it on DVD and video TODAY!" he crowed, giggling uncontrollably.

I sighed again. "No more happy juice for you."

"But-but-but-that means I'm gonna be _sad_!"

"Ugh. Please, shut up before I do it for you." I drug him to a dark room, which I recognized as some minor god's bedroom, and shoved him in, locking it. I was sure he couldn't pop out in the state he was in. I listened as he banged against the door.

"Hey! I think this door is raping me..." I heard a dull thud, and then his snores started up.

"No, trust me, that's not rape." I mumbled to myself as I went back to the party. I was stopped just outside the door, though, by Hades, who had a very evil look on his face.

"Guess what I did!" He said in a sing-song voice. He walked past me some, stumbling. "I had some punch, then I **got my revenge on Zeus!**" His voice turned demonic on the last five words.

"Dammit. I hate dealing with drunk people." I pushed past him into the room. Zeus was getting it on with a chair. I noticed Dionysus was laughing the hardest. Hades fell over behind me, then got back up, chuckling madly.

"Okay, I had the god of wine's help." He laughed his deep, rumbling laugh. I groaned loudly, stomping my feet in aggravation. Sure, Zeus' humiliation was great, but it was slightly marred by the fact that nearly everyone was drunk.

"Thalia! Percy, Annabeth! Come on, I'm taking you home." It was still early in the night, only one, but I was sure whatever else that might happen wasn't right for such young eyes. They gathered around me, and I popped them all to Half-Blood Hill, where Thalia hugged me bye, and went to get her stuff to travel with Artemis. Speaking of Artemis, I wondered if she was drunk too. I flashed back to the party.

Right when I appeared in the midst of the crowd, I heard Zeus yell, "Does anyone have a condom?"

"I keep one on me in case I wanna lose my virginininity...." Artemis said, hiccuping. I knew it was true though. I walked quickly over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me with glazed eyes. "You wanna help?" She swayed slightly.

"Come on Artie...let's get you somewhere safe so you won't do something you'll regret later."

There was a loud crash from the hall, and I wanted to bash my head against the wall in frustration as I heard Scorpius. "OMG! THE DOOR IS RAPING ME! HELPHELPHELP!!!" I made Artemis pop back to my temple, and locked her in my dungeon. Hopefully she wouldn't touch the torture devices. Just to be sure, I made them all go into my bedroom. Then I started back down the hall to where Scorpius was still screaming like a little girl. I jerked open the door, glaring at him. "Loooook! Looooooooook!" He pointed in a corner, looking terrified, and scrambled behind my back. Dionysus loomed in the corner, a pleased expression on his face. "He tried to rape meeee..." Scorpius whimpered.

I stepped forward, snarling. "What did you do to him?"

"I made him think the door was raping him. Ah, the sound of madness is so sweet. Don't deny it Ara. You know you love it too." Then he disappeared, leaving a smell of wine and grapes.

I hugged Scorpius, trying to calm his frightened whimpers. "Shhhh, darling it's all right. Let's go back home." We made it back to my temple, and I put him in his bed, pulling the covers up to his chin as I popped his pajamas on. He sighed, turning his head to the side as his eyes slipped closed. I went back to the party for what seemed the millionth time. This was what usually happened when someone had a party and everyone got drunk. I had to wrangle all of them and make sure they didn't do anything stupid. I sat back down at the table where we had set before and surveyed the mess. Carlisle was dancing again, but this time he had Emmett doing it with him. Rosalie came and sat beside me, shaking her head in annoyance.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked me quietly. I held my head high, not letting any emotion betray me. She could always see what was wrong with me, no matter what it was. It's what had happened to us that brang us together as sisters.

"Nothing. I see you've got a problem though." I nodded at the wildly careening Emmett. She smiled lovingly, watching her crazy teddy-like husband.

"He's not that big of a problem. I can tell you have one."

"Oh, yeah, but I'm not sure where he's at right now."

"Not the tall, dark and handsome problem. I know you know what I'm talking about."

"I'm telling you, nothing." I stared out across the room at Demeter, who looked back.

"I can tell it's bothering you. You're glaring at everything in the room like you want to make it explode, but you're resigned." Damn insightful vampire.

"Okay." I sighed again. "I told Hades about my..." I stopped. She leaned forward sympathetically, her dark golden eyes shining with knowing. We sat in companionable silence till someone wrapped their arms around me from behind. I jumped and sent them flying back. With my rough memories so close to the surface, having someone grab me from behind was _very_ unsettling. I whirled, Rosalie at my side, she was hissing at whoever it was. My eyes focused on Hades, who was on his ass about ten feet away from us, looking completely confused. Oops.

"What was that for?" He said, shaking his head.

"You just scared me, that's all." I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, trying to smooth out the goosebumps that had appeared. He slowly got up, without stumbling, and stared at my face with something close to horror. I turned my face away, letting my hair cover it. I felt Rosalie's cold hands on my arm, trying to soothe me. When Hades' much larger, much warmer hands joined hers, I jerked away, my shaky hold on my emotions breaking. I disappeared in a flash of white, far away from everyone, and let the wracking sobs take over. I bent over, holding my stomach, then dropped to my knees, my entire frame shaking with the force of the sobs. Music played in my head, songs that comforted my slightly, reminding me of my old situation.

At times life is wicked and I just can't see the light...

A silver lining sometimes isn't enough to make some wrongs seem right.

Whatever life brings, I've been through everything,

And now I'm on my knees

Oh and I know I must go on

And I know I must be strong...

Because inside I know,

That many feel this way...

I clutched my head, letting the music surround and comfort me, going into the fetal position as the tears streamed unwillingly down my face.

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***sob* I feel so bad for Ara! Please review! Pretty pretty please! **


	16. Chapter 15

*Ara POV*

I woke to the sun right in my face. I sat up, blinking sleep and dried tears out of my eyes. I seemed to be in the Hollywood Bowl, and with a small shock, I realized that I'd trashed it in my emotional surge. Large cracks ran up and down the concrete walls, and the seats were pretty much rubble. Sighing hugely, I fixed everything, then popped myself to the edge of the ocean, where I let the salty waves roll over my converse. I changed into a black bikini, then took a swim in the sunrise. I dove deep under the waves, then spiraled and twisted, looking at the colorful fish and coral. Frowning, I looked over the shelf of the ocean floor and saw a faint green glow. It looked like Poseidon was trying to find me, but couldn't quite place me. Suddenly Delphin zipped past me, not even giving me a second glance. I watched as he swung back around to make another pass by the rock I was sitting on. Finally, he seemed to notice me.

"Lady Ara! There you are!" His squeaky voice said in my head. I felt him calling Poseidon. He rose out of the black depths, a frown on his face.

"What happened at that infernal party last night Ara?"

"Like you don't know." I snorted, and a stream of bubbles went out of my mouth. A cold current made my hair billow.

"All I know is I saw you pop away, really upset, and then your prescence disappeared. I hate that you can hide from us. Everyone was looking for you. Do you have any idea how upset Hades is right now? He was in the biggest temper I'd ever seen, and he killed a minor god just for saying he was tired and didn't want to help search for you."

"And how did you all manage to search for me while being rip-roaring drunk?" I asked, my voice tainted with disbelief.

"Dionysus made us all normal when he saw what happened. You two may fight constantly, but he does care for you, somewhere down inside."

I made a disgusted noise in the back of my throat. "Right. Maybe I just wanted to be left alone for a little while. Did no one think of that?"

He swam forward and placed his hands on my shoulders. There was a very big difference between the tan and pale skin. "No. We wanted to know where the life of the party was at. And kill whoever made her upset."

"Psh. I'm not the life of the party." I turned my head away stubbornly. He grabbed hold of my chin, forcing me to look at him. I was glad we were underwater, because the damned tears coming from my eyes would definitely not help my situation any. He tugged me into his chest, hugging me tightly, and kissed me on the top of my head.

"If you only knew."

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I popped myself back to my temple, where I went down to the dungeon to see if Artemis was okay. She was passed out in a corner, and I popped her to her sacred spring so her Hunters could take care of her. Then I went to go check on Scorpius. He was snoring so loud, I couldn't hear myself think. Walking to my bedroom, I got a look at myself in the mirror. My hair was still soaking wet, and knotted, my eyes were red and slightly puffy, and I was still shaking. I cursed myself, watching my eyes narrow in the mirror, then stomped off. I took a shower, then pulled on some ratty black sweats and a black tank top. I wandered into the living room, and just as I was about to plop onto the couch, I realized someone else was already on it.

"Mmmpff." Hades groaned, his face angry even in sleep. He was still wearing clothes from last night. He snored too, but not nearly as loud as Scorpius. I studied his face. What was it about him that made everything okay? Just being near him made me feel safe. He grumbled something, then rolled onto his back. I wondered why it wasn't so last night. I shuddered delicately, then kneeled on the floor beside him. Carefully, I slid my arm over his waist, wrapping it around him. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his breathing, and his heartbeat. My other hand crept up to play with his silky hair. I was so comfortable, I didn't notice when his snoring stopped. I closed my eyes, enjoying the moment, when his fingers started running through my damp hair. I sat up quickly, blushing. He had a sleepy smile on his face, and his eyes were half closed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." I whispered, sitting back on my legs.

"I can't think of a better way to be woken up." His smile faded as he fully woke up. "Ara...I'm sor-"

I put my finger to his lips, silencing him. "I don't want to hear it. Are you hungry?" He nodded, with a guilty expression on his face. Suddenly Scorpius stumbled into the room.

"Would you all stop being so loud!? I need some peace and quiet...and ice." He sat down hard on Hades' feet.

"SORRY!" I yelled, then, grinning wickedly, I dashed into the kitchen and started breakfast. Scorpius came and sat at the black marble island, holding his head. I gave him a glass of apple juice. He drained it in one gulp. Hades stalked into the room, now in clean clothes. He sat by Scorpius and watched me. I pulled out eggs, potatoes, tortillas, peppers, sausage and cheese, then set them on the counter. "Breakfast burrito, anyone?"

"That's what I was craving! You know me too well! Stalker." Scorpius said, looking up.

"Sounds good to me, babe." Hades shrugged, then leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head.

*Scorpius POV*

I watched as Ara made my breakfast burrito, and every now and then I'd comment on how bad she was doing, and that I smelled something burning. Not like I actually did. She was surprisingly, a good cook. Just not as good as me. She handed me my plate, and refilled my apple juice.

"Bon appetit." She said, with a perfect French accent.

"Actually, it's more Mexican than French." I said. I love back-talking. "So. If I'm only 15, but I'm a god, do I have to go to school?" Ara set Hades' plate in front of him, with a glass of chocolate milk. She turned to glare at me, hands on her hips.

"Not mortal school. You get to go to the Academy of Awesome Destructive Powers. It's my Academy. I'm the headmistress, and you're my only pupil." She conjured a ruler and smacked the table with it, and evil grin on her face. "Do something stupid, and I'm going to smack you upside the head with this ruler."

"That's right young man." He turned to Ara. "Only, I don't agree that he goes to your school. He needs to go to the Academy of the Dead. You'll be taught by some of my finest ghosts, including Billy the Kid, Charles Manson, and Freddy Kreuger." Hades said to me, smiling slightly when Ara glared at him too.

"Yeah, not happening. I hated all of those guys, except perhaps Billy, and Freddy isn't even real!" She exclaimed.

"As far as you know," he muttered, then dug into his burrito. I followed suit. It was actually very good. Ara pulled a chocolate granola bar out of the cabinet and some grape juice out of the fridge, then sat down across from us, eating slowly. When we all finished, Hades stood up, groaning. "Ara, are you going to come with me to the divorce? It's been rescheduled to today."

She nodded, stretching. "Of course. Scorpius, your lessons will start this evening, seven sharp, in my garden. Be there, or you will get your first scar from the ruler." She smiled sadistically, then they disappeared. I decided to call Annabeth.

"Hey, what's up, are you free, wanna go on a date?" I asked in one breath. I could sense her smiling on the other side of the phone.

"I can't. I'm going to boarding school tomorrow, and I'm packing today."

"Awww...come on...you and me...the Great Wall of China..."

"I don't know..."

"Come on. What's the harm in seeing me one last time? I'm sure you're already packed!"

"Well...just a little...oh, fine. You win. Now come pick me up!"

"Okay...I'll be there in a second." I changed into different clothes, then popped away. She was sitting on her bed, with several suitcases scattered around her, all half-packed. She smiled shyly and blushed when she saw me. "Do you want some help packing?"

"That would be great. So, you're seriously going to take me to see the Great Wall of China? Oh my gods! That's so awesome! Can you even imagine how old it is? How _big_ it is? It's like 5,000 kilometers!" She was really excited now, all bouncy and bubbly. I smiled adoringly at her. She was so cute when she got excited about architecture.

"Oh, trust me, since I have a sister that's almost 4,000 years older than it, yeah." I joked, sitting on the bed next to her, with some difficulty do to the suitcases.

"Can you even speak Chinese?"

"Nope."

She gave me a funny look. "How are we-?"

"Oh I think I can manage." I smirked. At least, I hoped so. We finished packing her suitcases and I popped her right to the very center of the Wall.

This section of the wall was deserted, and we were able to look around at the view without any interruptions. The green mountains were beautiful, but Annabeth couldn't seem to take her eyes off the workmanship of the bricks. Suddenly a guard appeared. He said something in Chinese, and I shocked myself by knowing what he said.

_"Hello. Beautiful day, isn't it?" _He said, smiling kindly. _"Your lovely lady seems to have a taste for architecture."_

_"Yes, she's completely obsessed with it." _I answered back. He smiled, then walked off. Annabeth looked at me with something close to reverence.

"Where did you learn to speak Chinese?" She said, her gorgeous stormy eyes wide.

"Um...I just knew it." I shrugged.

"_Cool_." She emphasized the word so much, I thought she was kidding. We walked along, taking in the beautiful scene. She hardly spoke anymore after that, just content to walk and observe. If she did speak, though, it was something about the structure of this or the angle of that, and I tried to act like I got what she was saying, but she knew better. We almost walked the entire length of it, but I got tired, and she did too, so I popped us to her favorite restaurant for dinner. We ate slowly, and I realized with a slight shock that I had to be in Ara's backyard in five minutes.

"Annabeth, I have to go. Are you done?" I said, setting my glass of Dr. Pepper down. She nodded happily, then stood and kissed me lightly on the lips, holding my hand as I paid and we disappeared yet again. One thing I absolutely loved about her, she wasn't creeped out by my red eyes. They actually seemed to fascinate her. We appeared in her room, where I said goodbye one last time, then popped to Ara's garden. She stood in the center of it, next to a very happy Hades, and she checked his watch.

"Oh look at that. 7:01. You're late." She tutted, and I felt a sharp, stinging whap in the back of my head.

I put my hand to it. "Ow!"

"I told you not to be late." She turned around and started arranging something. Hades gave me a sympathetic look, then turned with her and placed his hands on her waist. I took the chance to look around at the garden. It was, of course, mostly black. Beautiful black flowers grew wildly everywhere, and twisted, gnarled black trees stretched towards the sky. A large stream cut through the trees, twisting and turning off somewhere into the depths of the garden. Large black granite boulders sat here and there, like they'd been there forever.

"What kind of training do you have for me?" I asked cautiously. Her back tensed.

"Catch this!" She whirled and threw a fireball at me. It was black fire tinged with red, which was odd, because mine was red tinged with black. I caught it in my hand, and closed it, sucking the life out of it. She nodded approvingly. "Good. Now I want you to use your hands, feet, and if you can, mouth to attack those dummies. Fire only!" I looked to see what she'd apparently been setting up. Straw dummies stood in neat rows of five behind her, a total of fifteen rows. I went to work. The first dummy got a mouthful of red flames from my fist. The next turned to charcoal when I let out a flame from my foot. I obliterated the first three lines when Ara stopped me. "Okay. You need to learn the dragonbreath technique. I personally don't like using it, but I think it will look really cool and be very effective with your style of fighting."

"And what's my style of fighting?"

"Up close and personal. I like to attack while watching from afar. But you, you my brother, must always get in someone's face. Not a bad thing, but it does have some disadvantages. Don't worry about it. Okay, just pay close attention to this." She put her hands together like she was praying, and took a deep breath through her nose. She threw her hands out, and her body arched, then she jerked forward, and a giant flame came pouring out of her mouth, like an actual dragon. A whole four rows of dummies were incinerated. She straightened, then gave a small cough. A wisp of smoke curled from her lips. "Ick. See? The trick is to breathe. And the form is somewhat important too."

My mouth hung open in awe. "That. Was. _Awesome_! I can do that?"

"Yes, if you practice." She stepped back, and motioned for me to try it. I did the same as she did, but before I took my breath, her cool hands stopped me. "Eh-eh-eh-eh...there." She made me stand a little straighter and then stepped back again, nodding. I took a deep breath, working up the flames. My body then moved of its own accord. My hands flew open, and yet I stood straight as an even bigger flame burst from my throat. I was amazed at the humongous red flame in front of me. My mouth burned a little, but I liked it. Spicy was always my thing. I destroyed the rest of the rows of dummies with ease. When it stopped, I didn't cough; I was grinning so widely it wasn't possible.

"Wow." Hades commented.

"Yes, indeed, wow." Ara agreed. She looked utterly surprised I'd grasped it so quickly and so well. "That was better than mine! And much bigger! I just _knew_ that move would be perfect for you!" Suddenly she hugged me. I almost fell over. Sure, let me breathe fire any day, and I won't budge a bit. Throw my older, though much smaller sister at me and I'm a goner. I chuckled quietly and patted her black hair. The red streaks were easily visible in the darkness.

"You're a good teacher!" Suddenly Hades had his arms wrapped around us both.

"Group hug!" He crowed, right in my ear. I slipped out of his grasp, laughing uncomfortably.

"Um, no." I said, holding my hands up. He smiled evilly, then moved his arms down to Ara's waist and started swinging her in circles like a little child. She screamed, and started laughing too. She must of electrocuted him or something, because he set her on her feet and casually threw an arm over her shoulder. She blew her hair out of her face. It was funny seeing them like that, because she was so short next to him. They both grinned wickedly at me, like they were planning something. I backed away a step.

"Come here Scorpius...I want another hug." Ara held out her arms. Before I could react, she had me in her grip again, and Hades had my legs. I yelled out, trying to kick and get away. She grunted as they hauled me to the stream. They started swinging me, laughing breathlessly.

"One...two...THREE!" He yelled, and they let go, flinging me into the water, where I was sure I would get the breath knocked out of me. Instead of landing in three-inch water, though, I crashed under twelve feet before hitting the bottom. I swam towards the top, and my head popped above the water so I could breathe.

"What the hell!?" I screamed, pushing back my wet hair. "Why does it look like it's so small?"

"You wonder about the weirdest things." Ara laughed. "It looks like that because it's pretty, but really its twelve feet deep and seven feet wide. I swim in it. It's my own little pool!" She giggled madly as I climbed out of the water, cussing.

"Does that mean my lesson is over?"

"Nope! That means it's only just begun." Ara said with a tone of finality.


	17. Chapter 16

*Ara POV*

"Bend your knees dammit!" I yelled, pacing around like a drill sergeant. Scorpius bent his knees more, trying to hold a giant ball of water over his head. "Come on, more!" He did again, and fell over, the water crashing down on top of him.

"Ugh! Stop _pushing _me so hard!" He complained, shaking his shaggy hair.

"You _need _to be pushed hard to learn this stuff! Now get that water back above your head! My, my, water is _not _your forte..." I tsked, and watched in silent amusement as he glared at me and heaved the water back up.

"Why do I have to do this? This is just...playing with water!" He whined.

"Playing with water? You were born of water, boy! Water is healing, powerful and mysterious! You want to be as good as me? Learn it!"

"Woooo, the ocean...oh my gods, I was born from seaweed!" He said sarcastically.

"The ocean is a very powerful force! It's unpredictable, ever-changing and shifting! The ocean holds much of your power, as does the moon, and you need to get a good grasp on it to truly master all of yourself!"

He sighed heavily. "Is school over yet?"

"Bend your knees some more and it might be."

"I can't take it any more!" He tried to pop away, but I held him in place.

"Oh, fine. We can try more of the heavy-lifting tomorrow. I want you to get a start on healing before this lesson is over." I said exasperatedly. I sat him down on the stone bench, and handed him some water. "The first part is simple. Spread the water in a thin coat over your palms." He did, with some difficulty. "Okay, now. This is the really hard part. I'm not even positive you can do it. Take a deep breath through your mouth, and concentrate on peaceful, healing feelings." I giggled quietly. "I had sooo much trouble with this in the beginning..."

"How will I know when it's working?" He asked, because we weren't using an actual wound.

"It glows green-blue." We both stared at his hand, and suddenly, the water disappeared, replaced by his red flame. He gave a small cry of pain and shook his hand, putting it out.

"Ow ow ow ow ow...how can I burn myself...while playing with water!?" He yelled, getting up and stomping around angrily. I heard Hades trying not to crack up.

"Here. Now I can show you how it's done." I grabbed his hand and healed it perfectly, making a relieved sigh escape his lips. "Okay...we're done for tonight. Meet me here, same time, the day after tomorrow." He gave me a funny look. "What? I've got something planned tomorrow..." I trailed off, glancing at Hades.

"What do you have planned?" Hades said, suspicion in his smoldering eyes.

"Oh, nothing." I said innocently. I hopped up from the bench and headed into my house. He followed, like I knew he would.

"Come on...you can tell me..." He plead quietly, his husky voice right in my ear. I grinned wickedly in the darkness.

"And if I can't?" I teased, whirling to face him.

"Then I'll have to...get it out of you..." I could only see half of his face, but what I did see scared me a little.

"Aha. Let go so I can go get some sleep." I tried to pry his hands off my waist.

"Ara." He pulled me closer to his chest. "I can think of better uses for that bed of yours..."

"Hades! Stop it!" I giggled, twisted out of his grasp and dashed through the kitchen into my bedroom, giddy. His lumbering footsteps followed, and before I knew it, he had me from behind. The next thing I knew, I was in his bedroom in the Underworld. He threw me on the bed, and with another thought, the black flames on the walls were extinguished. Looks like my night's just begun...

*Scorpius POV*

Giggles rang out of the house, and I rolled my eyes. There was a small pop and all noise stopped. Ara and Hades must be...occupied. Now what? I looked around the garden and shook my head. There was nothing here to keep me from getting bored...where could I go? Suddenly, I had an idea. The Cullens never sleep! I popped onto their front porch and knocked softly on the door. I heard the almost silent gust of air, and the door opened.

"Oh, hello Scorpius!" Alice said cheerily. "I saw you coming, so we set up some things to do!" Her face darkened, and she leaned forward menacingly. "I also saw what Ara and Hades are doing right now, and she is in _so _much trouble when she gets back!"

I laughed. "Why is she in trouble?"

She looked really hurt. "She didn't tell me she was going to do anything! We're best friends! We tell each other everything!"

"Uhmm...yeah..." I said uncomfortably, edging around her small body in the doorframe. She glared at me, so I stopped. Esme flitted beside her.

"Alice, quit being rude! Talking about other people's personal lives and not letting Scorpius in the door." She chided quietly. I grinned hugely and stepped through the wide and welcoming doorway. Emmett sat in a corner with Rosalie, it looked like they were playing poker. Carlisle was reading a book, and Bella and Edward were messing around on the piano. Jasper waited on the bottom of the stairs for Alice, they were writing something down. She stalked back over to him, looking cross.

"It's okay Esme. Well, I truthfully didn't want to hear anything about Ara, but not letting me in the door..." I grinned wolfishly at Alice. "I would of got in somehow. Sorry for barging in, but well...I'm bored."

"Goddammit!!" Emmett cussed loudly, and threw down his hand of cards. Rosalie smiled innocently and motioned for him to do something. He muttered and lifted his shirt over his head. Oh. They were playing strip poker.

"Hey! Can I play?" I asked, bouncing over to their dark corner. It looked like they had just started, but Emmett was already missing both socks and now his shirt. Rosalie was fully dressed.

"She'll bury us both." Emmett said, glaring at her.

She laughed, a tinkling myriad of bells. "He's just pissy cuz I haven't had to strip yet."

I sat down beside them and they restarted the game. After five and a half hours, with plenty of cussing and plenty of losing, I was declared the top winner. I only had to strip once, and I got both Rosalie and Emmett down to their undergarments pretty quickly. Emmett would stop the game just before he or especially Rosalie would get completely naked, for which I was glad. I mean, yeah, I would love to see her naked, but I was sure I would get my ass kicked for that. As for seeing Emmett naked, well...pass. We were just starting our 25th game when I crashed. Sleep engulfed me, and I prayed to the gods that I wouldn't get a makeover from Alice while I slept.

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**One thing, people....R&R! Thanks! Oh, and I almost forgot....I'm really sorry, I know this took forever to get out, but I had a surgery and I wasn't able to do anything for a while.**


	18. Chapter 17

*Ara POV*

I woke up, not to the sun in my eyes, but to warm, moving skin under my cheek. Groggily, I lifted my head to see what it was. Oh. I was sprawled across Hades' chest. His face was peaceful, his black hair blending in with the pillows. I let out a small breath, and his eyebrow twitched. Trying not to giggle, I slowly inched my way off of him. His arms wrapped around me, keeping me tight to him, and he frowned, his eyes still closed.

"Why are you trying to get away from me?" He asked, the frown prominent.

"Because I thought you might be uncomfortable with me there. I was being considerate."

"Well, be inconsiderate and stay right where you are." he finally opened his eyes and looked down at me. Onyx met emerald as his arms tightened even more.

"Okay..." I breathed, entranced by his eyes. He scooted up in the bed, and pulled me onto his lap. I curled up to his chest. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. We both jumped slightly, and Hades situated me better on his lap before waving his hand at the door, which flung open.

A girl stood in the doorway, looking frightened, and even more so when she saw me. "Oh, I'm so sorry Master. I didn't mean to interrupt." She had a short pixie cut, and her eyes were the strangest color I'd ever seen, so strange I couldn't put a name to it. Her whole form flickered.

"It's okay Anna. What is it?" Hades said calmly.

Anna looked disgruntled. "_She's _here to see you Master."

Hades scowled. "I'll be right there." She nodded and disappeared, shutting the door behind her. He took hold of my waist and set me beside him. Grumbling something unintelligible, he got up and popped some black robes on.

"Who's here? And can I come?" I said with a vague idea of who it was.

"_Persephone_." He spit her name out through his teeth. "And no, I'd rather not have you there. I'll be back soon."

I laid down, annoyed, but stayed where I was as he whooshed out the door. As soon as I was positive he was gone though, I was up. I grabbed his black shirt off of the floor and pulled it on over my naked body, not bothering to button it up. Then, I crept down the black marble hallway to an antechamber.

I heard them before I saw them.

"Where have you _been_!? I've been waiting forever, it's nearly one in the afternoon!" Persephone said angrily.

"What do you want? We're divorced; that means you stay away from me." Hades' voice was cold and I could hear barely suppressed rage.

I want you back Hades. I miss you." Her voice grew soft and pleading.

He snorted. "You don't miss me. Go home."

"Please. You know you missed me too!" There was a silence and I crept closer. I turned invisible and went through the door at the other end of the antechamber. I was in the palace gardens. Persephone was standing underneath a twisted black tree, and Hades was about fifteen feet away from her, looking thoroughly disgusted. He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again.

An awkward silence passed, then Hades spoke. "I tried to think of a nicer way to put this, but.....you're freaking insane."

Another silence, in which I tried not to laugh. She started forward, but he backed up quickly. Her expression turned cruel. "So why did you sleep in so much this morning? Were you screwing your filthy little whore?"

This time he strode forward. "_I SHOULD DESTROY YOU FOR THAT!_" His voice bellowed out, making the entire place shake. He stopped five feet away from her, the same black fury on his face like there was when he wanted to kill Zeus. A ball of black energy curled into his hand, and she took a step backwards, her eyes wide and frightened.

"You wouldn't." She managed to say. She was pressed up against the tree now. Hades was taking deep breaths, calming himself so that the energy dissapated.

"Are you a masochist?" He asked, then turned without waiting for an answer and stalked towards the door I had came through.

"Wait!" Persephone stretched her arm out to him. "What if I am a masochist? Would you like me better then?"

Hades snorted again and turned to look at her. "I like sadists." Her mouth dropped open in shock, and he smiled briefly before turning around again. I popped myself to the antechamber, then opened the door noisily and stepped out of the shadows. Hades' smile grew wider when he saw me, probably because I was holding his shirt closed over my chest. Since I happened to be much bustier than him, it was kind of hard. The shirt only reached to my thighs, but I walked forward proudly and without modesty.

Persephone scowled evilly. When I got to Hades, I wrapped both of my arms around him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Are you coming back to bed?" I asked him playfully.

"I certainly am darling. And you knew that, dressing in my shirt like you did." He replied just as playfully,

"I knew it. You've only been divorced for a week and you're already screwing other women." When I heard that, something changed.

*Hades POV*

I clutched Ara close to me, feeling the silky skin of her leg. Suddenly, she caught my eye, and I realized that I had just missed something. There was a look in her eye I knew all too well, the look that said something's going to explode. Then, her mind touched mine, and her voice sounded in my head.

"Don't you have a reply to that?" Her voice dripped with anger.

"Ummm...I wasn't paying attention."

"What were you thinking about?" She sifted through my thoughts, then looked at the one where I had been imagining what I was going to do to her as soon as Persephone left. Her silent 'oh' echoed in my head. She showed me what Persephone had just said, then left my mind. Our small exchange had lasted less than five seconds.

"Only one." I said surely. "And she's going to blow you to oblivion." Ara stood silently, watching Persephone with cat-like green eyes. Persephone opened her mouth to say something, but she let loose a shrill scream as Ara made her hands explode. Ara stalked forward, not even bothering to close her shirt.

"You," Ara hissed dangerously, "need to leave now." Persephone didn't look up from her bleeding stumps. Ara made a noise like and angry cat, and Persephone seemed to curl in on herself before exploding outward in a shower of golden drops of Ichor.

*Scorpius POV*

"Unngghh..." I was still half-asleep, swatting at an annoying fly on my nose. It left, and I sighed, drifting farther into unconsciousness. Until....there it was again! This time, I smacked myself in the face so hard I woke myself up. Suddenly I was aware of snorts and giggles around me. Groaning even more, I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Are you awake?" Alice asked seriously.

I kept my eyes closed. "Kinda." Yawning, I opened them just in time to see Emmett throw a bucket of water on me. _Ice cold_ water. I yelped and shot to my feet, cussing. "Holy dammit! What the hell was that for!?"

The laughing grew louder. "How about now?" Alice asked just as seriously. I glared at her.

"Hel-" I was cut off by yet another bucket of freezing water drenching me from behind. I turned slowly to glare at Edward. "Edward, I can expect this from everyone else, but from _you_...I'm shocked." I brang my hands up, taking all of the water off of my clothes, trying to use my form like Ara had showed me. It swirled up around my head, drying me instantly. I bent my knees, but they shook some and the water crashed over my head. "DAMMIT!" Ara was right. Water is not my forte.

The laughter turned into guffaws. I spun around, flinging water droplets everywhere. Then, I lit my hands on fire. The water hissed and sizzled as it turned to mist. "Hey now, calm down Scorpius. We were just kidding." Edward said, raising his hands.

The fire extinguished. "You guys are so lucky I don't have a temper like my sister." Edward grinned, and I saw that it was only him, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett pulling the prank on me. I sighed heavily and plopped on the floor. "Speaking of that, have any of you heard from her?"

Alice pouted. "No. But I saw some stuff...let's just say that Persephone won't be bothering them anymore."

"What happened?" I asked curiously.

"Ara killed her." Alice looked down at her fingernails.

"But how? I thought you can't kill immortals."

"Ara can kill whoever she wants. Persephone will go to the Underworld, and Hades will have to bring her back to life, because Demeter would go off again if she didn't come back." Jasper said boredly. Seeing the look on my face, he added, "Alice has told us this thousands of times now."

Alice hit him on the arm. "Not really! Only like hundreds."

"Okay...so can anyone get a hold of Ara for me? Because I want to ask her some stuff."

Alice made a disgusted face. "I'd rather not. How about you hear some of Ara's weaknesses first?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Ara has some weaknesses? How can Miss Perfect Princess have weaknesses?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm only telling you this stuff because I know you will put it to good use."

I grinned. "You're right. Lemme hear them."

"Okaaaay... number one. She can not draw to save her life. All she can do is stick figures, pretty much. Number two...she hates needles. With a passion. Number three...never ask her to play a boardgame. She sucks at those too."

"What can I do with those? Make her draw a boardgame for me? And is that it?"

Her grin reminded me forcefully of Ara's, when she was planning something evil. "That is definitely not it." She continued to tell me of my sister's downfalls.

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Hello again! I know, it's been a really, really, really long time since we've posted...and this chapter is kinda pointless, but we wanted to get something out. We'll be going into the fourth book preeeettyy sooooon....I hope. :] Thank you!


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